ISL: The least we deserved was a draw, says Bengaluru FC head coach after loss to East Bengal

Kolkata (West Bengal) [India], December 31 (ANI): Bengaluru FC head coach Simon Grayson felt his side deserved at least a point after they went down 1-2 to East Bengal FC in matchweek 13 of the Hero Indian Super League (ISL) at the Vivekananda Yuba Bharati Krirangan, in Kolkata, on Friday, and said that striker Cleiton Silva’s moment of brilliance cost them the match.

Both sides gave it their all in what was a feisty contest. The match was heading towards a draw after Javier Hernandez had cancelled out Cleiton Silva’s opening goal. However, Silva had other plans, as the Brazilian found the back of the net with a scintillating free-kick in injury time to haunt his former side. Grayson was frustrated with the way his side lost the game and felt they dominated the second half. The Bengaluru FC head coach asserted that Silva’s moment of brilliance made the difference and that his players gave their best.

“Well, when you lose in the last minute of the game, it’s really heart-breaking and frustrating especially when you are the dominant team in the second half. Not only when we equalised, but before that. Once we got the equaliser, it looked like we would go on to get the winner. It is frustrating and I cannot use any words to describe it. A moment of brilliance from Cleiton. He put it in the top corner which cost us and won the game for East Bengal FC,” Grayson said at the post-match press conference.

“The least we deserved was a draw. But that is how our season has been so far. We have sort of got punished for mistakes or concede goals by fantastic strikes from the opposition. We do not get the breaks in the opposition’s 18-yard box or the six-yard-box when things are bobbing around. That is frustrating. You cannot ask any more of the players. I think we played some really good stuff, worked extremely hard and looked the fittest and strongest team out there. That’s for sure,” he added.

With this result, Bengaluru FC drop down to the ninth in the ISL standings after 10 points in 12 games. They are nine points off Odisha FC, placed sixth, and will be hoping to do all they can to make it to the playoffs come the end of the season. Grayson admitted that his team is finding it tough to win matches, which was a hard pill to swallow for the team.

“The players gave everything. They were absolutely trying everything in their power to make sure we were trying to win that game. Sunil (Chhetri) is frustrated as is (Namgyal) Bhutia, who is a young player as well,” Grayson stated.

“So they are all hurting because we have lost another match when we did not deserve to. Last week, we dominated against Hyderabad FC, but we lost another game there. We are not finding a way to win matches, whether it’s experienced players or young players in the team. We are a collective unit and we are finding it difficult to accept it at this moment in time,” he concluded.