Hyderabad FC overcame NorthEast United FC with a 4-2 win at the Tilak Maidan Stadium in Vasco on Friday. It was Hyderabad’s second consecutive win in Hero Indian Super League (Hero ISL) 2020-21 and they left it late after initially taking a two-goal lead in the first half. The Highlanders fought back to restore parity before the break but a late brace by super-sub Liston Colaco gave the Telangana-based club maximum points.

Speaking at the post-match press conference, Hyderabad’s head coach Manuel Marquez admitted that he was angry with his players after they had squandered their two-goal advantage by halftime. “I was very angry because we controlled the game, but we conceded two goals… in five minutes [towards the end of the half] we lost control. I told my players that now we have our game as a draw and we will have to play like how we played in the beginning of the [first half]. The players were brave in the second half and I think we deserved the victory,” he said.

Colaco once again made his presence felt after coming off the bench and his head coach expressed his admiration for the talented Indian attacker. “I love Liston. He is a fantastic guy and he will be a fantastic player but he wasn’t ready for 90 minutes today because he had two-three injuries. But like today, when he enters the pitch and the other team is tired, he can take advantage of his qualities,” Marquez said.

Looking ahead, the Spaniard insisted that his team now will be making the most of their down-time before returning to the pitch. “We want these eight days to rest because when we play Mumbai on January 16; from then till February 28 all the teams will be playing 10 games. It means we play one game every four days. We have to use more players if we want to be in a good condition at the end of the league stage,” Marquez said.

Watch Manuel Marquez's Post-Match Press conference here:

Meanwhile, NorthEast's head coach Gerard Nus called for calm after his side’s winless run was extended to six games. “We have a mature group of players. The players and coaching staff need to learn from the mistakes and situations. This is a test to see our character. In these moments, we have to keep calm, to analyze and to get good rest and recovery and think about the next game,” he said.

Nus believes that the Highlanders can still secure a semi-final spot. “To be honest, I don’t think too much about the table. We have played 10 games and there are still 10 more games until the end of the league stage. Obviously, there are a lot of games and opportunities for us to come back stronger. At the end of the day, we are the only team that won against the best team in the league, which in my opinion is Mumbai City,” the 35-year-old said.

“That’s something that will always be there but it’s not enough. In many games we deserved more, against Chennaiyin FC we deserved to win, against Odisha FC we created so many chances… but we didn’t score and obviously we didn’t defend well enough because they punished us as well,” Nus added.

Watch Gerard Nus' Post-Match Press conference here: