East Bengal FC head coach Oscar Bruzon spoke on the disappointment after a late equaliser from Hyderabad FC in their Indian Super League (ISL) clash gave way to a 1-1 draw.

Jeakson Singh gave East Bengal FC the lead in the 64th minute, finishing a well-constructed move. However, Hyderabad FC struck back in the 90th minute when Manoj Mohammad’s opportunistic goal salvaged a point for the home team.

Match Report: Hyderabad FC 1-1 East Bengal FC

“We had two options. Holding the result, or trying to make the advantage bigger. And we took that decision," he said during the post-match press conference.

"Nandhakumar Sekar was getting a lot of openings in the second half. We relaunched very dangerous counter-attacks, but one more time, we could not convert. When the advantage is 1-0 in the last minutes of the game, one chance can change everything. And this is exactly what happened with the goal of Hyderabad FC.” he added.

Bruzon analysed the match tactically, highlighting the significance of midfield control, he said “The key point of the game was the midfield. If you saw the first 30 minutes, we decided to play more long balls, because we know the energy of Hyderabad FC."

"We knew that they win a lot of balls, especially in the last game, so we decided not to take risks…At halftime, we tried our midfielders to be more active, not to take the decision of playing all long balls.. And this is how slowly in the game we got the control in the central areas," he added.

East Bengal FC are 11th on the league table with 14 points from 13 matches. They had two consecutive wins before the draw.

Despite the late setback against Hyderabad FC, Bruzon remained focused on the bigger picture. Reflecting on East Bengal FC's progress, which shows a dwarf after a series of wins he noted, “As far as we keep collecting points, especially in an away game, we cannot regret it."

"It's true that today the feeling of all of us is that we let two points go. But it's an away game. We are coming in a very good sequence of games and collecting points, something that didn't happen at the beginning of the season. And I just hope that this point helps us to keep our progression because this team still has a lot of room for improvement.” he said.

East Bengal will look to bounce back in their next ISL fixture, taking on Mumbai City FC at home, as they aim to get back to their winning ways.