NorthEast United head coach Gerard Nus feels that his side played in the same manner in both halves and added that set-pieces cost them the game against ATK Mohun Bagan on Sunday.
ATK Mohun Bagan continued their fine run in the Indian Super League table with a comfortable 2-0 victory over NorthEast United FC at the Fatorda Stadium. With this win, ATKMB reclaimed the top spot ahead of Mumbai City FC.
In a match that often turned into a physical affair -- six yellow cards were handed out -- a seven-minute double early in the second half settled things in favour of the Kolkata outfit. Fijian striker Roy Krishna scored his first goal from open play in nearly a month in the 51st minute. Soon, in the 58th minute, an own-goal from Benjamin Lambot increased ATKMB's lead.
"It (the defeat) is concerning because we want to win. We want to be competitive. We are building a squad for the future with a lot of young players. Not many players were together, they basically met three months ago. Every game is a chance for us to get better. We stick to the things that we do well and we keep improving," Nus said after the game.
"I think we played in the same way in both halves. Those set-pieces cost us the game," he added.
Nus is hoping to focus on the positives from the team's performance before their next game against Hyderabad on Friday.
"You are playing against a great team with great players. They won the title last year. They had that consistency, a lot of credit to them. I can see a lot of positives on our side. I don't think the fighting spirit has dropped. At the end of the day, scoring goals is the hardest part of football. We are really happy with the players we have, we are working hard to improve them," he said.
Both teams went in locked in a goalless stalemate at half-time but the script turned on its head post the restart. It was Krishna yet again, who broke the deadlock, heading in after Tiri flicked on a corner from Edu Garcia. Just seven minutes later, ATKMB doubled their lead, this time off another corner. Lambot tried to deal with another Garcia delivery, only to inadvertently divert it into his own box.
The Highlanders were further pegged back by the goal and struggled to fashion clear-cut chances. Their best attempt on goal came in the 71st minute when Federico Gallego grazed the crossbar with a freekick. That they only had a single shot on target throughout the match was a testament to how comfortably ATKMB were able to see out the second half.
( With inputs from ANI )
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