SC East Bengal coach Jose Manuel Diaz said his team was beaten by a better side who didn’t allow them to play their game as the Red and Gold Brigade went down 0-3 in the Hero Indian Super League (ISL) match against ATK Mohun Bagan at the Tilak Maidan in Vasco, Goa on Saturday.

Diaz’s team conceded three goals in 11 minutes as they were blown away by the Mariners who took control of the game early and never relinquished it.

The match exposed the big gap between the two teams as it has now been three years since SC East Bengal have won a Kolkata derby.

Diaz spoke to the media after the match, here are the excerpts from his press conference.

How do you explain this defeat?

We faced a very good team and they made it very hard to play our game.

The team started the game well before conceding the three goals. What went wrong for the team today?

We made a lot of big mistakes. It's a dangerous thing to do with this team in front of us because they have a good level. We couldn't play our game.

How tough will it be to recover from this game and face an Odisha FC team who will be very confident after their result in the first match?

The competition is what it is and in three days we are going to play again. We must do our best in the next match.

The midfield struggled to contain Hugo Boumous who had a hand in all three goals. What went wrong on that front?

We gave a lot of space to Boumous today and if you do this then we don't have a chance to win.

SC East Bengal have not won the Kolkata derby in three years. Did that put extra pressure on your team and what is the message for the fans?

We understand the feeling of the fans. But at the moment there is a big difference between SC East Bengal and ATK Mohun Bagan. That's the real situation