North East United FC head coach Ricki Herbert appeared shattered post his side’s 1-2 defeat to Delhi Dynamos FC who lifted themselves off the bottom of the table and consigned the hosts to the cellar instead.Dismayed at the amount of chances not converted by his team, Herbert lamented at the post-match press conference, “I am at a loss for words. I do not know how to explain my team’s performance. We had chance after chance after chance and inexplicably, we missed them.”When asked if this loss has almost ended their top four hopes, the Kiwi gaffer preferred to look at the situation with a ray of optimism, “I will not say that we are out of it. We need to win all our games and we need to start well against Chennai who are playing some great football at the moment. I know it’s difficult, but in our last encounter against them, we did pretty well. Maybe, we can beat them this time at home,” the former New Zealand national coach said. The two sides played out a pulsating 2-2 draw in the first leg at Chennai.The ex-New Zealand international defender however offered no excuses for his team’s repeated failings in front of goal: “I’ll make no excuses whatsoever. We are absolutely dreadful in front of goal at the moment. Today, to top it all, we had some defensive lapses as well. The amount of chances that we created amazes me and we managed to miss all but one.“We do not have the superstar marksmen that the other teams have. What we have is a young and talented squad that is almost a very good side. We did not need a 30 yard screamer to win the game today. So many of our chances were simply tap ins or ones that could have been easily headed or guided into the net. It is devastating for me to witness that.”Herbert said his team tried their best to attack today. But the Highlanders failed to cash in on the numerical advantage they enjoyed for most of the second half. “Delhi took their chances, we did not. I cannot fault my boys for effort, but someone needs to take responsibility and score,” Herbert said on being questioned about why his side could not kill the game despite being a man up.The Highlanders’ coach once again reiterated that all is not lost and they will fight it out till the very end. “We still believe that we can do it. The squad is absolutely disappointed tonight. No question about it. But we cannot let the 30,000 odd fans who turn up for every game down. We will fight for them,” he concluded.
