NorthEast United FC head coach Juan Pedro Benali commended his players’ efforts despite suffering a 2-3 defeat against Chennaiyin FC in the Indian Super League (ISL) at the Indira Gandhi Athletic Stadium in Guwahati on Thursday.

The Highlanders took an early lead to the game with a brilliant counter-attacking goal from Nestor Albiach. However, Benali’s men were unable to maintain the lead as Chennaiyin FC made a solid comeback to seal their second away win of the season.

Wilmar Jordan Gil netted a brace while Lukas Brambilla scored his first ISL goal from the spot as Owen Coyle’s men returned to winning ways after dropping points in their last two fixtures. Despite Alaaeddine Ajaraie reducing the deficit with a penalty goal in the 89th minute, 10-man Chennaiyin FC managed to secure all three points from the match.

The NorthEast United FC head coach shared his dissatisfaction with his players’ overall performance in the game. However, Benali praised his players’ fighting spirit, who continued to create offensive moves in search of the equaliser till the final whistle.

“We fought till the last second. In some moments we were playing very good football. We were very dangerous with space. The problem is we don't keep doing the same thing,” Benali said in the post-match press conference.

“We do it. It works. It happened to us against Kerala Blasters FC. Same. We do things. It works. And suddenly we stop. And we change. We don't continue in the game plan. This is our mistake,” he continued.

“We scored 1-0. We need to keep our position. Just be calm in set pieces. We didn't. But I'm proud that the team, even with 3-1, keeps pushing and pushing and going. Players on the bench, players inside, everybody was doing the job. We had chances to score again. But this is the beauty of football,” he further added, sharing his assessment of the match.

The Marina Machans equalised first with Gil’s inch-perfect header from Connor Shields’ corner in the first half. Moreover, the Highlanders’ defensive struggled to keep Chennaiyin FC quiet from set-pieces in Guwahati as all their conceded goals came from dead-ball situations.

Shedding light in this regard, Benali said, “We've been training, defending the corners and the fouls for the last six days. Minimum, minimum, we did it; I don't know how many times. But if it's not one, it's another one. We know that the danger was that.”

“(We’ve conceded) three goals in set-pieces. We cannot admit that. It's not good for us. It's not good, it's not good, especially when you work, you work, you work, you work on it. And you go to the field, and you don't do it. Then after, if some player was out or something, you cannot blame me,” he carried on.

Benali apologised to their supporters for the result, who turned out the stadium in large numbers, but thanked them for their continuous support and lively chants from the stands throughout the match.

“The fans today were fantastic. Incredibly fantastic,” he said.

“We pushed; we did our best. We were unlucky sometimes. We did some mistakes; we apologize for it. Looking forward for the next game,” he signed off.