Kochi (Kerala) [India], October 26 : Bengaluru FC head coach Gerard Zaragoza admitted that his players had to work hard to leave Kochi with a 3-1 win over Kerala Blasters FC in an enticing clash in the Indian Super League (ISL).
The Blues were up against Kerala Blasters FC who were backed by a sell-out crowd that created an electric atmosphere in the stadium. However, Zaragoza's team battled the odds to claim their fifth win of the season and strengthen their grip on the top spot in the table.
Speaking about the match, the Spaniard was pleased about the way his side defended though they couldn't extend their record of not conceding a goal in the ISL this season by more than 45 more minutes.
"It was really hard. The atmosphere in the stadium was unbelievable. They helped the local team to push. We couldn't play our normal football. In defence, we were good as always. Yes, we conceded a goal but it's not important. The three points are important," Zaragoza said after the match as quoted from ISL.
"They crossed a lot and all the teams try to do that against us but we work hard to defend the crosses. They have really good players. When you are on top, you need a little bit of luck and we had that today," he added.
Despite having successfully dealt with a lot of crosses, Zaragoza felt his team didn't give away too many chances to the opponent and their ploy of allowing space in the wide areas to Kerala Blasters FC worked.
"We didn't concede too many chances from these crosses. We work hard to stop balls coming into our box. We try to protect our goal, we try to protect Gurpreet. When we do that we will leave something open. If we close the areas in the middle, there will be space outside. We took a risk but at the moment in six games we haven't conceded from crosses," he concluded.
The Blues face another away fixture in the next match in the ISL as they make the trip to Goa to take on the Gaurs.
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