NorthEast United FC succumbed to their second defeat in a row on Friday after Atlético de Kolkata beat the Highlanders 2-1 at the Indira Gandhi Athletic Stadium in Guwahati. Emiliano Alfaro gave his side a first-half lead, however, goals by Helder Postiga and Juan Belencoso in the second period ensured ATK go top of the league.Highlanders head coach Nelo Vingada was gracious in defeat, admitting the visitors were the better team in the second half and that his side must take this defeat on the chin and look to try and bounce back in their next match. “I consider [this] one of the best games that has been played in this league until now. Of course, we played against a good opponent and the first 45 minutes were fantastic the way we played. Second half, ATK were better and maintained good pressure even though they didn’t create as many chances as we did. But they equalised and later we had to make some changes and we made a mistake to concede the second goal, we had the ball in our possession in the last 15 minutes and I think we should have at least drawn the game. We are not bad even though we have lost the last two games which is six points at home but we are creating a lot of chances. Of course, it’s only a matter of time that we will be back and we will fight to be in a good position,” the Portuguese told reporters at the post-match press conference.He continued: “Winning today was indeed important but at least a draw would have been better than to lose. But this is football. We made some mistakes and gave them the opportunity to recover but we also created opportunities. I hope in the next few games the luck factor will be back for us. Even if we don’t play so well, getting a better result is our target. I feel bad for the players, the entire team and the fans because they were all fantastic but this is football. Let’s move ahead and face the upcoming games even though they will be tough. We need to work hard to get NorthEast United FC to the position we want.”Vingada was also effusive in his praise of ATK’s marquee player Helder Postiga, who came on in the second half and scored his side’s equaliser to alter the course of the match. “Helder Postiga’s introduction brought in a new angle to the game and it was difficult for us to stop him even though we got one of our players to man-mark him. He really changed the game and got Atlético de Kolkata better organised. They were better than us in the second half. I knew the first 15-20 minutes would be hard but after that we started to control the game. The first goal was a good cross and a good goal. However, the second goal was our mistake, one of the players played the ball back which led to a counter-attack and our team couldn’t get back in time and they scored. Anyway, the players played very well, they fought hard and played some good football,” he said.The match also saw NorthEast’s first choice goalkeeper Subrata Paul unable to complete the full 90 minutes due to injury. Commenting on Paul’s 77th-minute substitution, Vingada said: “As of now it is not good because he asked to be replaced. We will have to see in the next few days. I cannot say too much. If it was a small thing he would have played but the fact he could not continue I think is not good. Of course, we need some more time to look into it. But I am confident. Injuries keep happening in football.”NorthEast now have a week long break before facing Mumbai City FC at home on November 5.
