Aridane Santana inspired Hyderabad FC to a 3-2 comeback win against SC East Bengal in Match 29 of Hero Indian Super League (Hero ISL) 2020-21 at the Tilak Maidan Stadium in Vasco on Tuesday. The Kolkata club began well and had a 1-0 lead at the break thanks to Jacques Maghoma’s first goal of the night. Santana scored twice in the 56th minute to change the tide of the contest and Halicharan Narzary then netted Hyderabad’s third in the 68th minute. Maghoma scored a consolation for the Kolkata club in the 81st minute but it wasn’t enough to deny Hyderabad full three points.

Speaking at the post-match press conference, Hyderabad’s head coach Manuel Marquez assessed the game for his team. “I think in the first half, we didn't deserve to lose. I think we failed or missed a lot of chances in the first half, even a penalty [by Santana]. In football, sometimes, these kinds of things happen. At halftime we were quiet, we spoke about the game, and that we had to play the same way in the second half,” he said.

“In the last 10 minutes, we didn't know how to play the game. Maybe it is my fault too because the team was very nervous. It's normal because we were winning 3-1 and they scored. In the last minutes, you always think they can have some chances but fortunately for us, the final score was 3-2,” he added.

Liston Colaco came off the bench to have a major impact for Hyderabad and provided two assists as a substitute. While discussing the difference that Colaco made for Hyderabad, Marquez said: “Liston is a very, very good player but sometimes you have to have some players on the bench. When the opponent is tired, I think the performance of Liston is better.”

Marquez’s men are still unbeaten this season with two wins and three draws from five games. While expanding on their unbeaten start in Hero ISL 2020-21, the Hyderabad head coach said: “We are very, very proud of all the players. People know that we are playing with a lot of Indian guys. It's very difficult because they have a good level but playing a lot of games and continuing to fight in every game and remain unbeaten is not easy.”

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

Meanwhile, SC East Bengal stumbled to their fourth loss of the season but their head coach Robbie Fowler believes that they can still qualify for the semi-finals provided they improve massively. “There's still a possibility [of qualifying for the semis], of course. We need to improve massively. It's still not over. We still got a lot of points to play for, we still got a lot of performances left in us,” he said.

Looking ahead, Fowler hopes that better results are just around the corner for his team. “We have to get on with it and hopefully, the next one will be a better result. We will work on the training pitch as we always do,” Fowler said.

Watch Robbie Fowler's Post-Match Press conference here: