NorthEast United FC suffered a frustrating 1-3 defeat at the hands of ATK Mohun Bagan in the Indian Super League (ISL) on Saturday.
The Mariners went down early in the match but came back strong to score two first-half goals and finish it off in the second half.
Head coach Khalid Jamil admitted the result was disappointing but stressed that all the players worked hard.
After the game, the NorthEast United FC gaffer appreciated the players and said:
"Only one thing I want to say to the players, they all are working hard. They're listening to all the instructions that we have given them especially, since the last couple of matches they are working hard and I don't have any complaints about them. Everybody is working hard. That is a good point, both Indians and foreigners."
He added:
"Talking about the new player who has come, Zakaria (Diallo), he's also working hard, Marco (Sahanek) and remaining players like Subhasish, everybody's working hard. That is a good thing."
V.P. Suhair scored the opening goal of the game for the Highlanders. But goals by Joni Kauko and Liston Colaco overturned the score in the first half itself. Talking about this, Jamil said:
"Suhair scored a good goal. I was thinking that we could finish at least one-nil up in first half but, they equalised, and then again in the second half, we needed a good start. The players worked very hard, which is a good point. It is not their mistake, it is our mistake."
Check out the ISL clean sheets here.
"Our focus is on the future" - ATK Mohun Bagan head coach after win against NorthEast United FC
The win took ATK Mohun Bagan to second place with 26 points from 14 games, with two games in hand over leaders Hyderabad FC with 29 points.
Meanwhile, ATK Mohun Bagan head coach Juan Ferrando was satisfied with the performance but didn't want to get too carried away.
The ATK Mohun Bagan gaffer said:
"For us, there are still six games to go. So currently my feeling is that I am thinking about the next game. To be honest, the coaching staff and players are ready for the next match. We have enough for the time to recover as the next game is on Tuesday. Our focus is on the future, not thinking about this night now."