FC Goa’s coach Manolo Marquez praised his players for their resilience and highlighted key performances after their 2-1 victory over Punjab FC in the Indian Super League (ISL) on Wednesday.

With this victory, FC Goa claimed back-to-back wins, having defeated Bengaluru FC just days prior. FC Goa showed a strong performance in both halves, with a great comeback after losing the lead to Punjab FC in the 13th minute with a goal by Asmir Suljić. They found the goal twice with Armando Sadiku in the 22nd minute and Iker Guarrotxena in the 49th minute.

Reflecting on the mood shift in the squad following these two significant wins in the post-press match conference head coach Manolo Marquez noted, “The mood changed completely after two wins and (means) more against the (top) two teams. The other day Bengaluru FC and today Punjab FC, showed, especially in the first half, why they are in this position in the table of ISL."

With two consecutive home games before the international break, the FC Goa head coach was pleased with the full six points secured.

“To get six points is fantastic. Today’s win is the kind of game that, as a coach, you suffer through, but as a player, it’s great to win a game like this,” he said.

The coach also expressed satisfaction with several players who made a positive impact in the game, particularly highlighting a few, “It’s great to see players like Hrithik (Tiwari) and Brison (Fernandes) finally showing their real level. We’re also very satisfied with Iker (Guarrotxena). He’s come in after a long break, and his performance was fantastic for the team.” he acknowledged.

This match presented a few challenges to FC Goa as they had to come back from a 1-0 lead by Punjab. He acknowledged the threat Punjab posed, especially in the first half and the need for his team to meet such opponents with the right mentality.

“Punjab FC is a very good team. And if we don't enter the game with a good mentality, a good pace, and I think that the team will seem scary in the first minute. When they combined inside and outside, they were playing very, very well.d I think that the good luck is that we equalized maybe when we were not doing too much. And then after this goal, the game was very equal. And in the second half, my feeling is that we deserve to win.”

The match also saw many substitutions for FC Goa, speaking of the players and their injuries he noted the need for recovery, Marquez said: “Yesterday in the last action of the training session, Carl McHugh was injured and today Mohammad Yasir had a fever all day. …And this is the important thing, that we recover a lot of players for the next game. Practically four, or five players recover for the next game.”

Looking ahead to the international break, the coach stressed the need to be prepared fully “Everyone has to do something and arrive in the best conditions possible. Now we play three consecutive games away and another one at home. Four games before another break in December.”

FC Goa will be looking to regroup with high spirits and come back stronger in the second half of the ISL after the break, with a match against Kerala Blasters FC on 28th November.