North East United FC head coach Ricki Herbert was in subdued mood post his team’s goalless draw versus Kerala Blasters FC at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, Kochi, on Thursday night. The result leaves North East United in a near hopeless seventh place but this doesn’t mean that his team are out of the tournament. The Kiwi gaffer felt that although his side were down to 10 men for the last 20 minutes of the game, they still played well and created enough chances to win it. He also believed that the scoreline was a fair reflection of the game as both teams created opportunities but failed to score.“Yes, I think the result was a fair reflection of the game. Both teams needed to win and we gave away a few opportunities and we created a few opportunities too. But the only thing is that neither found the ball at the back of the net, really. So yes, I think a draw was a fair result,” Herbert observed at the post-match press conference.When asked about the red carding of his player James Keene in the 75th minute for retaliation, the former New Zealand player stressed that there is no point in criticizing the referee’s decision. He thought that his player’s retaliation to the challenge was disappointing. “The Kerala player (Michael Chopra) went in with a two-footed challenge from behind, which was dangerous, and nine times out 10 a referee is going to make a decision about that. But unfortunately for us, our player’s retaliation was a bit disappointing and that is what got him the red card; but I don’t think it was a nice tackle,” Herbert opined.Herbert went on to say that in the first half Kerala Blasters played with a sense of urgency, because of which his team had to sit deep. But he also pointed out that the Blasters have not scored a lot of goals and he did not see a genuine goal threat coming from them. “1-0 is a scoreline that could have won this game. Kerala, I think, are the worst scoring team in the league, as they have only scored a total of eight goals, so I didn’t really see them as a threat. That’s why I said 1-0 would have been enough to win this game. I believe that the game was only lacking that little bit of quality required to go and win the game,” he said.
