Match 82 of Hero Indian Super League (Hero ISL) 2020-21 witnessed NorthEast United FC come from behind twice to draw 2-2 against FC Goa at the Tilak Maidan Stadium in Vasco on Thursday. Alexander Jesuraj gave Goa the lead in the 21st minute before a Federico Gallego penalty levelled the score. The Gaurs regained their lead in the second period after Gurjinder Kumar put the ball into his own net but another successful Gallego penalty ensured that both sides settled for a point each.

Speaking at the post-match press conference, Goa’s head coach Juan Ferrando expressed his disappointment. “I’m totally disappointed not to get the three points. After the injury of Princeton [Rebello], it was difficult for us because we practised building the game [with him]. We then used Amarjit [Singh] and Glan [Martins] but it was difficult for them to help the team having hardly trained with us,” he said.

The Gaurs conceded two penalties from which NorthEast scored and Ferrando admitted that his side must time their tackles better. “It is very important for us to control the timing [of their tackles]. When you see there are two penalties against us, you see that the tackle maybe isn’t in the right moment. I need to watch the clips, watch the game and of course, we have a problem with [conceding] penalties,” the Spaniard said.

He went on to stress the need of improving their build-up play. “It is necessary to build our game. To build up our game, it is necessary to control the spaces, it is necessary to find the players and free men. And then to continue the action and we need to improve a lot,” Ferrando insisted.

Watch Juan Ferrando's Post-Match Press conference here:

Meanwhile, NorthEast’s interim head coach Khalid Jamil was happier than Ferrando with a point. “We are happy to get the one point, but we were trying to get a positive result, which is three points but sometimes it doesn’t happen. Everybody played their normal game and I wanted to get three points but sometimes it’s okay. We are now thinking about our next match after two days,” he said.

Jamil though admitted that his team failed to execute their plans in the first half. “We tried not to concede a goal at least in the first half. That was our plan, but we conceded an early goal. So, after that we came back into the game, and in the second half also we conceded. So, next time we have to be very careful,” the 43-year-old said.

When asked how significant a win would have been since both teams were tied on points and are semi-final contenders, Jamil replied: “It was important [to get the three points] but Goa are also a good team. They have quality players, their coach and foreign players are also good. So, it was a tough game.”

Watch Khalid Jamil's Post-Match Press conference here: