Pune FC suffered their first home loss of the season going down 2-3 to East Bengal at the Balewadi Stadium on Saturday.
Speaking at the post-match Press Conference, Pune FC Coach Karim Bencherifa discussed the game, the team’s performance among other things.
Talking about the hard-fought clash he said, “I think it was a game of two halves. In the first half, we did compete well. All the goals that we conceded were due to lapses of concentration apart from the good finishing from East Bengal. But I think I think the first half we were very much in the game and were creating problems for the East Bengal defense.”
Speaking about the second half, he added, “We didn’t have a good start in the second half conceding an early goal. And then after conceding the third goal, it was very tough for us to come back. I could feel that the boys didn’t have the energy, didn’t press the way we should and we had difficulty regaining the possession. It was very frustrating. Then we got the second goal but I feel we didn’t find enough energy to press the rivals and create chances to come back into the game.”
“I think, personally, we lost the game mainly on the midfield where they managed to take control with a lot of good players. They have been training together for a long time now and you could see it from their understanding on the field. I can’t blame my players because they gave their best. The youngsters like Nikhil, Haokip and Puia gave it all. Our half of the team is young but definitely I feel we lacked a bit of experience against a team like East Bengal,” he concluded.
