ATK Mohun Bagan head coach Juan Ferrando felt that his team found it hard to create spaces in attack, but was satisfied with the three points as the Mariners got the better of Jamshedpur FC in the Indian Super League (ISL) at the Vivekananda Yuba Bharati Krirangan, in Kolkata, on Thursday.
Hugo Boumous converted from the spot in injury time to hand ATK Mohun Bagan their third win on the trot. The result sees ATKMB leapfrog Odisha FC into third place, with the latter having a game in hand.
Ferrando, speaking at the post-match press conference, said it was difficult for his team to find spaces in the attacking third during the opening half and felt his side improved on that aspect in the second half although Jamshedpur FC kept things tight at the back.
Looking at the result, the Spaniard said the three points matter to him and he lauded the character of his team, which has been affected by injuries. Ferrando further stated that his main target was to finish on top of the ISL standings, but that it will be difficult catching up with the other teams placed above them.
Talking about if he is satisfied with the team's performance, Ferrando said, "Not at all. We did not play well in the first half. The situation was difficult and we played with the foreign players - Carl (McHugh) and Dimitri (Petratos), who were playing with some problems. The last two days in training were difficult and we had only one fully-fit foreign player (Boumous). Manvir (Singh), (Florentin) Pogba and (Joni) Kauko are out due to injuries so it has been difficult for the team to train in the last few days because we need maximum time to prepare for the matches. But that's not an excuse. We tried to find the best system to help the team and find the spaces. In the first half, we couldn't find the spaces and we misplaced easy passes. Maybe, we were under pressure or the mentality was not good."
"But in the second half the team was much better. We controlled the spaces, the time and in case, Jamshedpur FC had only one chance in the last minute. But in the final third, it was difficult to find the spaces and maybe because Eli Sabia and Peter Hartley have good experience as centre-backs and they controlled the spaces," he further added.
( With inputs from ANI )
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