FC Pune City were handed a harsh beating at their home ground against North East United courtesy of a 79th-minute winner from Emiliano Alfaro. Pune City came on the back of a last-minute victory against Goa but were disappointing at home as they lost their second game on a trot at their home ground.
It was a feisty game between the two sides as Eduardo Ferreira received two yellows in the game while NorthEast's Nirmal Chhetri was shown a straight red card in the first half.
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With the Stallions manager Antonio Habas still missing on the touchline, assistant manager Miguel Martinez was not happy about the result and stated the team had some analysis to do, "Definitely not a good result for us as we will look at the video footage tomorrow to know more about our mistakes and will try to take out some positives from tonight's match."
FC Pune City played again in a 3-5-2 formation with three changes in the starting lineup for the home side. Arata Izumi, Yumnam Raju and Rahul Bheke made way for Lenny Rodrigues, Zodingliana Ralte and Francis Fernandes. The latter two played as the fullbacks with Anibal Zurdo and Jesus Tato operating as the forwards. Dramane Traore, Sanju Pradhan and Arata Izumi were brought on as the substitutes but could not revive Pune's fortunes.
Miguel however, praised Traore for his performance, "Traore was good in his cameo along with the captain, Mohammed Sissoko. He was controlling the midfield and kept the play ticking at all times. "
He also highlighted what went wrong for the hosts, "We could not find the final ball though we need improvement in every department before the next home game against Kerala Blasters."
No comments on referee’s performance
On the red cards that changed the course of the match, Miguel said, "No comments on the referee's performance as the game is over and nothing can be changed now. We have to accept it and move on. " Pune City now have two more home games against Kerala and Kolkata as the Orange Army needs to start accumulating points if they want to achieve their aim of reaching the semifinals for the first time.
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