ISL: We lost due to individual mistakes, says EBFC coach after loss to Jamshedpur FC

East Bengal FC head coach Stephen Constantine was unsatisfied with his team's performance as they lost 2-1 to Jamshedpur FC in the latest fixture of the Indian Super League (ISL) 2022-23 at the Vivekananda Yuba Bharati Krirangan, in Kolkata, on Friday and said that his side lost the match due to individual mistakes.

Striker Cleiton Silva drew first blood in early minutes of the game as East Bengal FC led the match going into half-time. Substitute Harry Sawyer brought the Red Miners back into the game with an equaliser in the 61st minute and Ritwik Das completed the comeback after scoring the winning goal in the 85th minute of the game.

Cleiton Silva continued his fine form by bagging his 9th goal of the season as he sits on top of the ISL goalscoring charts, which was the only positive of the game for the Red and Gold Brigade. Constantine rued his side's recurring individual mistakes that cost them the game yet again.

"We are not the team that we want to be at this moment. I know the fans are not happy and I apologize to the fans because they deserve better. We've lost another game down to the individual mistakes, you cannot say we did not create chances. We had one cleared off the line and the goalkeeper saved but we did not make the right decisions at the right time and we paid for it," Constantine stated in the official post-match conference as quoted by an ISL press release.

This was East Bengal FC's fifth home defeat of the season as Constantine's men remained in the ninth position in the ISL points table, with seven points off the playoffs spot. They are now up against Hyderabad FC, FC Goa, and Kerala Blasters FC, with all three teams in the playoff spots. The Englishman has not lost hope with his team and has faith in winning the rest of the games.

"When I came I said going in the top six given the issues we had in the summer it would take a miracle. We won four games and there are seven more games and I believe we can win three or four of them, I believe we could have won today, we did not, it's done," he added.

The 60-year-old also mentioned how failing to sign players in the winter transfer window has impacted the team's performance.

"We need to get some fresh players in, we need to rebuild this team. This is what we tried to do, we started very late but again, I am not going to give excuses. I had hoped to get the signing in, unfortunately, due to some administration stuff we could not get the player in and we are looking for other players, we have identified quite a few players but the question is identifying and then getting them to come is two different stories," he said.

"Our target is to finish the season with as many positives as possible. I think you look at one positive is Gnunga (Lalchungnuga) we got him on loan, he is a young player, and we signed him for three years, this is a positive. Cleiton (Silva), he is the top scorer of ISL, positive! I know that does not heal the pain of losing but that is the stark reality of where we are right now. We need to get fresh players in. We have a couple of weeks left in this window and we are building for next season, this is clear," the head coach concluded.

( With inputs from ANI )

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