Hyderabad FC head coach Manuel Marquez believes the fresh set of players in his starting lineup did a great job as his side defeated Bengaluru FC 1-0 in their fourth match of Hero Indian Super League (ISL) 2021-22 at Athletic Stadium, Bambolim on Wednesday.

This was Hyderabad FC’s first win over Bengaluru FC in the Hero ISL history. Hyderabad FC this season have two wins and one draw in their four matches. They sit at third position with seven points, only two behind the league leader Mumbai City FC.

Hyderabad FC took the lead inside the first ten minutes of the match through a long-range shot by Bartholomew Ogbeche which deflected into the goal. They kept on creating chances but couldn’t double their lead. Bengaluru FC came out strong in the second half. They piled pressure on the Hyderabad FC backline but some solid defending and good saves by keeper Laxmikant Kattimani saw them seal the three points.

In the backdrop of Hyderabad FC’s victory over Bengaluru FC, coach Marquez addressed the media during the official post-match press conference.

Here are the excerpts from the press conference.

You got the win but were you nervous with a narrow one goal lead?

Yeah, I thought we scored too early. But we won with that goal. In the first half, we played the style of football that we had been searching for. In the second half, they attacked a lot searching for the equaliser. They are a strong physical side but we managed to hold them off and got the win.

Did your team adopt a cautious approach in the second half?

Yeah. There are a lot of injured players on both sides. We have Yasir and Hali injured but I am very happy with the players who came in their place. Rohit Dhanu, Nikhil Poojary, Edu Garcia, Aniket Jhadav and Souvik Chakrabarti all came in after injury or played their first match. So obviously towards the end of the game it was very difficult for them. But fortunately we got the three points.

You gave starts to Nikhil, Souvik, Rohit, and Siverio. Does that speak a lot about the quality of your squad?

We are confident in all the players. This is the history of Hyderabad FC to play with young players. If you win the game fantastic, if you don’t win then we go again. We are happy with the squad we have.

You spoke about consistency yesterday. Do you think you found the consistency between defence and attack today?

In the first half yes. In the second half, I was not happy because we can’t play to only defend when the advantage is only one goal.  It was dangerous.