NorthEast United FC were held to a 1-1 draw by Jamshedpur FC at the Indira Gandhi Athletic Stadium in Guwahati after being reduced to 10 men on the brink of half-time when Mislav Komorski was sent off. The league’s top-scorer, Bartholomew Ogbeche, opened the scoring with a 20th minute strike for the hosts, but Farukh Choudhary’s equaliser sealed a point for the visitors.

Speaking to the media at the post-match conference, NorthEast coach Eelco Schattorie began by sharing his personal thoughts on the game. “One, I’m very happy with the point. Mentally after the red card everybody worked as hard as possible to get that result. Could’ve even been three points if you ask me. Number two, totally not happy with the way we played. First half, before the game in the week of training I was curious about two-three players, as to how they would do in the current situation. Sometimes they are a bit overconfident,” Schattorie said.

He continued: “I didn’t see one decent build up from the back. That means we gave them the confidence, they were pressing us and we did not know how to deal with that. And that is something I really don’t like. You need to have the confidence even when the team presses you to get out of that. When you start hiding you will get the pressure on you and the game will change and with that part I’m not happy.”

The Dutchman was asked about the referee’s red and he clearly stated that he was in support of the official’s decision. “Referee has to do his job and I do my job. You have to accept what the referee does. There’s no use to linger on. We have a suspension now and other players will get a chance. So, there’s nothing you can do about it and there’s no use to speak about it,” the 46-year-old said.

From the visiting side, Cesar Ferrando was present at the post-match conference and he wasn’t happy with his team’s performance either. “I’m not happy today. I’m happy with the score, but I’m not happy (with the performance) ... The center-back and goalkeeper made big mistakes. You can’t concede the goal (we conceded). I’m not happy with that. They can score when they want. But, I think we conceded this goal very easily. If you work well you can’t make these mistakes, for me. We are professionals and we cannot make these mistakes. So, I’m not happy,” Ferrando said.

The Spaniard elaborated on his opponent’s performance, while also mentioning the areas where his team requires improvement. “In the first half of the match, they played very good on the counter-attack. In the second half, we tried to play faster but we kept losing the ball. We have to improve our passing in the final-third. NorthEast were defending well and we had to move the ball wide to create space. So, it was very difficult, and we have to improve on this,” he added.

Click here to read the match report.