East Bengal FC head coach Stephen Constantine felt that his side deserved the victory as they registered a hard-fought win against Bengaluru FC in matchweek 6 of the Hero Indian Super League (ISL) at the Sree Kanteerava Stadium, in Bengaluru, on Friday. Cleiton Silva's second-half goal helped the Torch Bearers claim their second victory of the season, as the visitors also registered their first clean sheet of the campaign. 

Constantine dedicated the away win to late East Bengal FC fan Joy Shankar Saha and said it was a team effort from the players. The Englishman also said the three points were 'massive', which will help his side mantain the momentum going into the matches ahead.

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

What was the game plan before the match and how happy are you with the result?

Firstly, I’d like to mention about Joy Sankar Saha, who passed away a week ago. He leaves behind a wife and a daughter and this win is for him. I am quite happy. I don’t get too depressed when we lose, and I don’t get too excited when we win. I thought we deserved the win, we were the better team. As I have been saying for the last five weeks, I don’t want to keep giving excuses as we are a new team and we are still building. It’s another step for us in the right direction. We are not the finished article. Every week we will get better and today, the boys were superb. So congratulations to all my players and the fans who came to support us.

Thoughts about Ivan Gonzalez’s performance?

I must say he was very good. You can’t keep a clean sheet with one player. The whole team was great. I’m delighted with Ivan, but I’m more delighted that we kept the clean sheet, which is our first one this season. Credit to the boys, they worked really hard and the staff as well. This was a team effort.

Jordan O’Doherty came off in the second half. Any update on his injury?

On the top of his thigh, he was feeling really tight. He took a knock, but I don’t think it is a strain. We’ll know on Saturday or the next couple of days after that.

East Bengal grew stronger towards the end of the first half. In the second half, East Bengal FC had a threat during the counter-attacks and grew during the game. What is the next point of improvement for you?

Few people will say that we are a counter-attacking team, but I thought we had more chances than they did in both halves. They did not have an answer for us. Like I said before, we are a work in progress. We will continue to work hard and get better. But I don’t think we are just a counter-attacking team and we showed that against ATK Mohun Bagan and against FC Goa in the second half, and against NorthEast United FC too. We haven’t been destroyed by anybody and in most of the games, we beat ourselves due to our own mistakes. And today we didn’t, so I am pleased with everybody.

A word on Cleiton Silva’s performance?

He scored a goal, and to be fair, he couldn’t miss that (laughs).

How important is a win like this in order to keep the momentum going?

All games have been tough for us anyway. I don’t think anybody in India expected us to come here and beat Bengaluru FC. They’ve played the last three games away from home and it has been difficult for them. I think they are a good side and all respect to them and the club. But for us, this win was massive. We have three points. I am happy we got them (fans) the win, and they can sleep easier tonight than what they have been doing in previous weeks.

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East Bengal FC2022-2023 Match 27,Bengaluru FC vs East Bengal FC