SC East Bengal came from behind to hold NorthEast United to a 1-1 draw in the Indian Super League. Marco Sahanek handed the lead to the Highlanders as Antonio Perosevic retore parity for the Red and Golds from the spot.
The Kolkata based outfit are winless in their last seven matches, in fact they have only won a single match throughout the season against FC Goa. They only have another game at hand and head coach Mario Rivera assured the fans of a promising performance in their last match and hopefully end the season on a high with a win.
When quizzed whether he thought they should have won the game, the Spaniard agreed and felt that his men created way too many chances than their opponents but lacked finishing. “Yes, we should have won the match. We had 18 shots and created many chances, but couldn’t score one more goal. They had an easy sight of goal and scored,” Rivera said at the post-match press conference.
Right before the match, Dutch midfielder Darren Sidoel suffered a knock during training. In all probabilities, he was supposed to feature in this game against the Highlanders but his untimely injury forced Rivera to change his plans. “Darren got injured in the ankle and couldn’t play.
“We have another injury concern in Fran Sota, who might have broken his wrist. We’ll have to wait and see whether they can play in the next match,” Mario Rivera updated.
SC East Bengal continued their trend of making shocking signings as they brought in Nepal international Ananta Tamang with two games remaining. SO when asked whether the Nepalese defender will get a chance in the last game of the season or not, Rivera highlighted his fitness. He feels that Tamang has recently joined them and has only trained with them. So it will be difficult to see Tamang out on the pitch in the final match.
“Tomorrow will be an intensive session for him and we will have to see if he is fit to play. We signed him because we needed to fill the Asian player quota, but if he is here and ready, we will use him,” Rivera revealed.
The Spanish coach believes that the SC East Bengal have seen the fight that the Red and Golds have put on their opponents under Mario Rivera’s regime. He also assured the fans that he will try his best to win the last match and end the season on a high. “We’ll have to tell the fans that we try and try and try. They can see the fight in the matches itself.
“We will try to win in the next match and dedicate it to the fans because they deserve it. After this season, we will come back stronger with a new team, as the history of this club can tell,’ the Spaniard concluded.
