FC Goa head coach Manolo Marquez felt his side deserved the victory over East Bengal FC in the Indian Super League (ISL) in Kolkata on Friday as they collected their first three points of the season.

The Gaurs rode on a Borja Herrera hat-trick to clinch the victory as East Bengal FC fell to their third straight loss of the season.

Match Report: East Bengal FC 2-3 FC Goa

Marquez, who cut a frustrated figure after FC Goa’s matches against Jamshedpur FC and Mohammedan SC, was pleased with the effort of his team.

“It was a very mental game. Both teams went into this game in a bad moment, at least in terms of the results,” Marquez said at the post-match press conference.

“We started the game well, scored two goals, we were clinical. I thought that was our chance to kill the game as East Bengal FC after two defeats were down but they came back into the game with the penalty,” he added.

“In the second half, we knew we couldn't enter the pitch looking to protect the lead and we needed to score the third goal. It's true that we had some problems after the red card of Carl McHugh. But my feeling from the bench is that we deserved to win the game,” he continued.

The Spaniard revealed that his team were aware of the pressure that the hosts were under after defeats in their first two matches and felt that his team capitalised on that added burden on their opponents’ shoulders.

“We knew East Bengal FC would be nervous. They have very good players and the coach for me is a very good coach. We took advantage of this situation. The first two goals in the first half is why we won the game,” he said.

FC Goa were without an out-and-out striker with injuries to Armando Sadiku, Iker Guarrotxena and Alan Saji and Marquez was happy that his team didn’t miss their services on Friday.

“We are unlucky that all three strikers are injured. It's a good thing that without a proper striker we scored three goals. Today, Borja was in a very good moment,” he concluded.

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