Mario Rivera of SC East Bengal says he’ll attempt to win the next match for the supporters.

Mario Rivera, the head coach of SC East Bengal, was upset after his club was held to a 1-1 draw by NorthEast United FC in Match 104 of the Hero Indian Super League on Monday at the Tilak Maidan Stadium in Vasco da Gama, Goa.

NorthEast United took the lead a minute before halftime on Marco Sahanek’s goal, but SC East Bengal equalised early in the second half when Antonio Perosevic scored a penalty kick.

The Red and Gold stayed in last place with 11 points, although they still have a game in hand against Bengaluru FC on Saturday at the same site. While it was the final match of the season for Khalid Jamil’s team, they ended 10th with 14 points from 20 games.

Rivera addressed the media during the post-match press conference.

Here are some excerpts from his press conference:

Do you think this match was winnable as NorthEast United FC was not in their best of form?

Yes, we should have won the match. We took many shots, almost 18, we made everything to create a chance and to have the chance. But we couldn’t score one more goal. 

What happened to Darren Sidoel before the match? Would he be able to take part in the next match?

He injured his ankle in the warm-up. We don’t know, we must wait for the test tomorrow to check him. After the test tomorrow we can only tell if he can play in the next match or not.

You brought in Nepalese defender Ananta Tamang. Will he be able to play in the last match?

Let’s see, he only made it to the one training session the day before the match. We will see tomorrow if he’s fit or not fit after the quarantine. If he’s fit, we will use him.

Any message for the fans as competition coming to an end?

Yeah, for the fans, we must tell them that we tried and fought till the end. They can see that in our matches, and we will try to win the next match and dedicate that win for them.