FC Pune City made a hard fought comeback against the Kerala Blasters as the Stallions won their first point at home this season and also scored their first home goal on the way. Pune's determination to fight back after again, after conceding a goal in the first half, was pleasing for assistant manager Miguel Martinez as he spoke about the positives from this game and also about the road ahead for Pune City in his post-match press conference.
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When asked about the performance of his team, Miguel said, "I am very happy with the comeback as the players showed tremendous fight in getting back on level terms against Kerala. True commitment was on display as I believe that we are on the right path and the victories will soon start coming for Pune. This young side showed great character against a tough Kerala side who played brilliantly tonight."
Pune were better than Kerala
Miguel was asked about his team creating less goal scoring opportunities as compared to the other teams as he said defiantly, "Maybe we watch different games as I think we were better than Kerala today." The Stallions started in a 4-2-3-1 formation against Kerala as Eduardo Ferreira missed out after receiving a red card in the last game. Dharmaraj Ravanan and Gouramangi Singh played as the centre-backs whereas Narayan Das and Rahul Bheke played as the fullbacks.
Miguel continued on his assessment of the game and added, "We have to prepare in the same way whether it is a home game or an away fixture. I'll take the positives from today's game as we did not lose another game and performed much better than we did against North East."
Josep Maria or Pitu as he is fondly known was originally in the starting lineup for Pune but suffered an injury during warming up as Miguel said, "We have to wait till tomorrow to know the extent of his injury. Pitu will undergo a MRI scan tomorrow and then we can tell more about his situation."
Pune City equalised through their marquee signing and captain, Mohamed Sissoko as his shot took a deflection off his counterpart Aaron Hughes and the Stallions were back in the game. All does not seem to be gloomy for Pune as manager Antonio Habas returns to the touchline after serving his suspension and will also be available for the media duties for the next home game against Chennayin FC.
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