Hyderabad FC midfielder Joel Chianese felt his side must learn from matches where they couldn’t deliver their best performance after his team were held to a 1-1 draw against bottom-placed SC East Bengal in the Hero Indian Super League (ISL) on Thursday.

Hyderabad FC came from behind to secure a point but were far from their free-flowing best in the match.

“We have to try and learn from this. It was probably not the best performance from us, a bit scrappy but we take the point and look forward to the next one,” Chianese said during the post-match interview.

“We knew the match was going to be tricky with them having not won yet. We knew there were going to change something to try and get the win. I think it was a bit ugly how they set up in that block almost with a 4-1-4-1 format. They had someone who was pretty following me all throughout the pitch.

They were hoping to get a goal on some set-piece or something scrappy and they did. Then they had something to hold onto and we had to try and chase the game,” he added.

As for SC East Bengal, it was a much-improved performance but it wasn’t enough to record their first win of the tournament.

But assistant coach Renedy Singh felt there were many positives from the encounter.

“The second half was difficult but if we continue to play like we did in that first half, the next few matches we will get good results. We just have to continue to fight the same way as we have done today,” said Singh during the post-match interview.

“We really want to win. I think today the way we fought, we were looking for three points. But when we are playing an organised team like Hyderabad FC it was a tough game. But we need to continue to play like today and we will win,” he added.

Lalrinliana Hnamte was awarded the Hero of the Match for his performance at either end of the pitch for the Red and Gold brigade and he too remained positive about his team.

“It was a tough game today and I think we were the better team. We didn’t get what we deserved in this game,” he said after the match.

SC East Bengal face Bengaluru FC in their next match on January 4, 2022. Hyderabad FC are in action again on Tuesday when they take on Odisha FC.