Bengaluru FC were held to a 1 – 1 draw by FC Pune City in their Hero Indian Super League (ISL) 2017-18 encounter at the Sree Kanteerava Stadium in Bengaluru on Friday. After falling behind to Sarthak Golui’s first-half strike, the Blues responded through Miku to earn their first draw of the season. Addressing the media after the result was Bengaluru’s head coach Albert Roca and the Spaniard acknowledged the performance of the Stallions on the night.

“Pune has shown that if you give them a little space, they have very good players like Marcelinho, (Emiliano) Alfaro and even Marko (Stankovic), who can break the lines with one pass,” Roca remarked. “Today it was even more difficult because they were leading from the beginning. They (Pune) were lucky I think in their goal, but it made life more difficult for my team. Because they were much more organised in defence. It was difficult for us to find the right solutions.”

Regarding his team’s response, he said, “In the second half, we had to push and not make mistakes. It was difficult for the defence because sometimes it was two against two. But we took the risk and we finally equalised. I think it’s fairer than to lose.”

Semboi Haokip came off the bench and assisted Miku for the equaliser before setting the Venezuelan up again late on only for him to fluff his lines. Roca underlined his contribution while lauding the 24-year-old. “Yes, I am happy with Semboi’s performance,” he stated. “When the coaches try to change something, we have to depend on these players to be motivated. Semboi had scored in the AFC Cup, so I supposed he would go there with a good mentality. So, it’s true that he did a good job and I am happy for him.”

The Spaniard further added, “He is a young guy, but he always tries and will get more experience. We had not found the solutions in the players that were on the pitch until the moment he came in (and made the difference).”

Bengaluru also had a strong shout for penalty turned down when Baljit Sahni appeared to handle Sunil Chhetri’s cross, and Roca gave his views on that. “Sometimes, the refereeing may seem hard on us,” the 55-year-old said. “What I want is for them to be fair and to do a good job. It would be crucial to not make a mistake in the playoffs. But, it is more important for us to not make mistakes.”