NorthEast United FC climbed to the second position in the Hero Indian Super League (Hero ISL) 2018-19 table after earning an invaluable 2-0 win over Mumbai City FC at the Mumbai Football Arena on Wednesday. Rowllin Borges and Bartholomew Ogbeche scored the two goals for the Highlanders on the night.

Speaking at the post-match press conference, NorthEast head coach Eelco Schattorie stated that the victory was a result of the team getting things right tactically. "Today, we scored two goals from the tactics that we put in taking into account a weakness in the Mumbai City FC team that we had analyzed. I’m very happy with it," he said.

The Dutchman, however, revealed that he wasn't quite content with the overall performance of the team despite the win. "Overall, the way we were playing, I was not happy. We can play better. That has to do with us not having the centre back that I normally have. But at this stage, three points are the most important," Schattorie remarked.

The 47-year-old then heaped praise on his midfield general Rowllin Borges and his new-found attacking acumen. "If Rowllin has to play in a midfield two, he will have less ability to go forward. When he plays in a role where he has the freedom to go forward, he has the ability to score. You need to give him the freedom to make those runs. His natural quality is his dynamics going forward," he said.

Mumbai head coach Jorge Costa, on the other hand, felt his players made key defensive errors which cost them the match. He said, "We tried. We made mistakes, defensive mistakes. Also, they worked a lot and we didn’t work a lot. We didn’t work enough to win this game."

Costa then went on to urge his players to learn from their mistakes soon or see themselves go out of the reckoning for the play-offs. "It is true that I’m not happy. With three defeats in a row, I’m not happy. But if you take out Bengaluru, all the other eight teams will want to be in our position. This is the reality. But it cannot hide the bad things we are doing. Like this, we will not go far," said the Islanders' boss.

Read the match report here.