Kolkata (West Bengal) [India], December 16 : Mohammedan SC head coach Andrey Chernyshov heaped praise on his team for the resilient performance against Mumbai City FC despite narrowly losing at home, a release by ISL.com stated.
On Sunday, both teams took time to find their rhythm, with Mumbai City FC's keeper Lallianzuala Chhangte missing a golden opportunity to capitalize on a mistake by Bhaskar Roy. However, there were no major threats in the first half hour of the game.
Things took a turn for the hosts as they were reduced to ten men after Mohammed Irshad was shown two yellow cards in quick succession.
Despite being a man down, Mohammedan SC remained resolute in defence, but a misjudged clearance from keeper Roy allowed Vikram Partap Singh to seize the opportunity and put the visitors ahead.
The Black and White Brigade maintained their defensive structure for the remainder of the match, with their keeper making a few crucial saves. However, they struggled to create chances in attack, ultimately suffering their eighth loss of the season and fifth at home.
"We started very well. We were ready to play against a quality team. They are really very strong; they have many national team players from India, and they have so many experienced players, but I am very happy about my players. I want to tell them to thank you very much for that match because they fought, they ran, no one stopped, and they (the players) gave their all against this very experienced team," Chernyshov stated at the post-match press conference as quoted from ISL.com.
"But it's very difficult to play with ten players. Then (we made) one mistake, and they used (that) mistake," he added.
This defeat marked their fourth straight loss, keeping them at the bottom of the table with just five points from 11 matches.
Despite the setback, the head coach remained hopeful, confident that hard work in training will help turn things around in the future.
"This team has a future if they continue to work like they are now in practice, in the matches, then the result will come. They are really good players. I'm so happy to work with them. And as I said before, our good time will come soon," he opined.
Chernyshov opened up that the side needs one win to regain momentum, and then they can start building on it. Mohammedan SC will next take on Kerala Blasters FC on December 22 in Kochi.
"We need to win one match - this is now our first target, and then we will get this experience, and confidence, and then we start to think about our next target," he commented.
Disclaimer: This post has been auto-published from an agency feed without any modifications to the text and has not been reviewed by an editor