NorthEast United FC beat Hyderabad FC 1-0 at the G.M.C. Balayogi Athletic Stadium on Wednesday in a Hero Indian Super League (Hero ISL) 2019-20 clash that went down to the wire. The Highlanders are unbeaten this season and won their first away game of the season against Hyderabad thanks to a Maximiliano Barreiro penalty.

Speaking at the post-match press conference, NorthEast United FC’s head coach Robert Jarni was not pleased with his team’s performance in the first half, but seemed satisfied with the result, “We prepared knowing that it was going to be a very intense game. We didn’t play the first half well. We made changes at half-time to get more chances from the game and it was useful. Of course, every time we get the three points, we are satisfied with the team. Now we have 21 days to prepare for the next match, so we are happy.”

Injuries forced NorthEast to make some major changes in the second half, but the biggest blow was a knock to talisman Asamoah Gyan. “When you make two changes at half-time, you don’t expect to make one just 10 minutes later. But sometimes that happens. Sometimes we must adapt to the situation. We had very good players on the bench and as you saw they can change the game. The players we had on the bench had more possession and they were more attacking so that made all the difference,” Jarni said.   

“It’s too early to talk about any injuries that happen in a game. So, we must wait to know more about the injury. We will conduct some tests in the hospital as soon as we can and then we will know,” the Croatian added on Gyan’s injury.

On Barreiro’s all-important penalty that won NorthEast the game, Jarni opined: “The penalty kick can be counted like a set piece, but we were attacking. They stopped the ball with the hand, so it was a penalty. But we are not looking for penalties or freekicks. We were attacking so we got the penalty.  Set pieces are something different, we have to work on it and they can give us the three points.

Read the Match Report here.