Disappointed to lose derby but proud of players: SC East Bengal's Mario Rivera

SC East Bengal's head coach Mario Rivera was disappointed following his team's 3-1 defeat at the hands of bitter rivals ATK Mohun Bagan in the Kolkata derby in the Indian Super League (ISL) on Saturday at the PJN Stadium, Goa.

SCEB took the lead early in the second half but was put back down after a 30-minute hat-trick by Kiyan Giri.

"Yeah always, when you lose there is a little disappointment but we have to be proud of our players, they fight a lot and we could have won the match, we played how we wanted but, we have a very bad situation with the injury in the first half we missed the only option to turn for defense and it was exploited," said Mario Rivera in a post-match press conference, as per the ISL website.

"We wanted to keep the result but they scored, they drove very fast and we didn't have time to adjust and if we got some time between our first goal and the equalizer, it would have been a very different match," he added.

The head coach further said that he is positive about his players' performance and hopes to in the upcoming clashes.

"The positives are the attitude and the fight of our players. They followed the plan that we wanted. We had bad luck with the injury in the first half but we have to be proud of our match and we are ready to go for the next match and try to win," said the head coach.

This result keeps the Red and Gold Brigade at the bottom of the table with only nine points but takes their city-rivals, ATK Mohun Bagan into the semi-final spots.

( With inputs from ANI )

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