FC Pune City came from behind to clinch maximum points in their Hero Indian Super League (ISL) 2017-18 fixture against Jamshedpur FC at the Shree Shiv Chhatrapati Sports Complex Stadium in Pune on Wednesday. The hosts fell behind to a first half strike by Wellington Priori before goals from Gurtej Singh and Emiliano Alfaro earned Pune the victory.

The Stallions’ Brazilian talisman Marcelinho provided both the assists for his side’s goals and Pune head coach Ranko Popovic spoke about his second half tactical changes in the post-match press conference. “First of all, I really want to say that Jamshedpur played fantastically. In the first half, they were very organised and very aggressive. This was what I had warned my boys all these days; how they will play and how they will start. I had hoped that we would start the game as we started the second half. First half they were better, they were playing and we were trying. In the break, I told my players not to worry much. Let’s aim at scoring one. If we score the first one, we will get to score the second one as well. And I also told them, if someone did not believe in this then not to go out to play the second half,” he said.

The Serbian continued: “We changed some players, we changed some positions. We put Marcelinho in the side and Marko (Stankovic) in the middle. Also, Sarthak (Golui) came into the game... And from the start of the second half, we started looking like a team. It was better, it was an open game, they could have scored but we held our own. Again, I would like to say that the people in India deserve to watch players like Marcelinho and Emiliano Alfaro play. People pay and travel to watch us and the young players enjoy their games. We are all here working together to better Indian football and some of the players from our club are at a very high level, and we need to protect that.”

When quizzed on a lack of attacking options from the bench, Popovic said: “Look, we are limited in some positions but we always try to choose what is best, what is better to start and then whom to choose later. It’s always good to have good players on the bench to get more out of the players, so that they do well. In the past, we have seen that some of our changes didn’t bring much of a difference because someone may be coming back from injury or certain other reasons. We have seen players like (Jonatan) Lucca coming off the bench and in 15-20 minutes, completely changing the game and this is what we need. We have a good team, the only thing we have to find is the right balance in the team.

Popovic also chose to sidestep the question of their maiden semi-final hopes having climbed to the top of the league and opted to thank their fans instead. “The way we are playing is fantastic. I think, everyone is happy and we want to again say thank you to everyone who is coming and supporting us, especially the Orange Army. They are always here in every game and they give their best to motivate our players. We want all our fans to keep coming and support us and be beside us in moments when the team is down, to give us that last push. The players need to know that whatever happens the fans will respect them, support them and this is the connection we need (to reach the semis),” the 50-year-old said.