FC Goa put NorthEast United FC to the sword with a commanding 5-1 victory at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium on Friday. Second-half goals from Ferran Corominas, Hugo Boumous, Miguel Fernandez and Edu Bedia sealed the victory for the Gaurs, taking them to the third spot in the table above the Highlanders. The match also saw Coro equal Iain Hume’s Hero ISL record of 28 goals.

At the post-match press conference, a delighted FC Goa head coach Sergio Lobera shared his thoughts on the emphatic result and dedicated the victory to the Goa faithful. "It is a good result for the fans, the team and everybody working at the club. So, this win is dedicated to all of them. I thought it was a complete performance. This is the sort of performance we need to follow and this is the team that we need to be if we want to achieve important things this season," he declared.

Lobera changed tactics at the back with Carlos Pena deployed as a centre back. The move seemed to work well for his side as the likes of Bartholomew Ogbeche and Federico Gallego failed to influence the match. "We knew that Pena could play on the left and as a centre back. That’s the reason we signed him. Analysing the other team, we knew that because they had their foreign centre back injured, they were going to play the other foreigner up front. Taking that into account, we played the way we did. We knew that it was going to be tough in the middle. I think it turned out well for us," he remarked.

Despite the flurry of goals in the second-half, Lobera was of the opinion that Goa should have seized the initiative in the first-half itself. "I think we should have reached half-time with a big difference in the scoreline. I think in the second-half, we were completely superior to them in all aspects and the result was sort of a reflection of that," he opined.

From NorthEast’s end, head coach Eelco Schattorie spoke about what went wrong with his team on the night. The Dutchman admitted that Goa were the better side and said, "Very deserved win. If you lose 5-1 you cannot say that you were better. I lost my centre back, I don’t have another option on the bench.  I expected that Goa would press us. We started a 4-4-2 simply because I wanted to play more long balls. After they scored the first goal, we broke down."

"From there, mentally it was a bad performance. You cannot lose 5-1 if you are the second-best defence in the league. I’m really disappointed with that part," he added.

Click here to read the match report.