NorthEast United FC head coach Ricki Herbert rued the defensive blunder that led to his side’s solitary goal defeat to Atlético de Kolkata in an away fixture at the Salt Lake Stadium on Tuesday evening.Denying that he had set his team up a tad too defensively in search of a point and as a result lost all three, the former New Zealand manager said he has always been insisting on defensive solidity that has served them well in the past and he wants the team to continue to be tight, whether home or away. “Tonight, unfortunately, the goal that we gave away was a sloppy goal, a giveaway, and I didn’t really see Kolkata coming and scoring any,” Herbert said at the post-match press conference. The reference was to the winning goal scored by Luis García off a Jofre cross after the Highlanders gave away the ball cheaply in their own half. Herbert felt that it would not have been a travesty if his team had to walk away with a point.Herbert does not blame the travel factor for their dip in form even though his team has played five of their last six matches in different cities. He said that all teams will have to deal with it given the cramped nature of the league. “The format of the competition is always going to be challenging for all the franchises,” he pointed out.The Kiwi gaffer is however happy that NorthEast United are playing their next two fixtures at home and hopes that they will be able to revive their campaign in their backyard. “We’ll get a couple of home games now and it’s pretty crucial for us to get back the initiative and make an impact,” he declared.The way NorthEast United have been playing, they not only have the capacity to determine their own fate but also the fate of the other teams in the league, Herbert felt.
