Odisha FC assistant coach Kino Sanchez was pleased that his team were rewarded for the hard yards that they have been putting on the training ground as they beat league leaders Mumbai City FC 4-2 at the Tilak Maidan stadium on Monday in the Hero indian Super League (ISL).

 Jerry Mawihmingthanga scored a second-half brace to set up Odisha FC’s win as he gave another reminder of his incredible ability.

Sanchez believed that Jerry was due this performance after showing consistency in training and also during matches.

Sanchez spoke to the media after the match.

Here are the excerpts from his post-match press conference:

How much did you enjoy the performance today?

A lot. Of course, when we win, all the players, the staff on the bench enjoy it but we had to suffer in some moments as Mumbai City FC are a good team. They dominated in certain phases of the match but we reacted well and managed to get the result.

Mumbai City FC have been vulnerable defensively in recent matches. Did Kerala Blasters FC and NorthEast United FC show you the template to beat Mumbai City FC?

Yes of course and also when we played them in pre-season we figured some ways how we can beat them. Of course we knew that it would be difficult to take the ball off them. But we knew we could make it difficult and they suffered without the ball. The best weapon to use the space Using Nandhakumar Sekhar, Jerry and Jonathas. Also Javi was working a lot to find these spaces behind the defence of Mumbai and tried to attack over there.

Kiko took the blame for the defeat in the last match. Who will take the credit today?

I think when the team wins or loses it's not just the coach but also the staff and the players that are responsible. I think football is a team sport and when we lose or win it's all about the team. Of course, the coach has a big responsibility but it's teamwork. The win today is not just for me and the defeat in the last match was not just for Kiko.

A word on Jerry's performance.

The truth is I'm really happy for him. All the staff members and players are really happy with his performance because he has been working very hard since pre-season and he deserved that. He was preparing to have a match like this because he was putting his 100% in every match. The other day he was doing his defensive job well but he wasn't able to do his attacking duties but today he did both aspects very well. Till the last minute he was giving everything for the team, so I'm happy for him.