Vingada believes NorthEast fought well to earn the three points ; Habas not happy about few on-field incidents

PUNE STARTED WELL EARLY in the game, Ndoye making the most threatening runs in the box. But had to replaced following an injury he suffered.

According to Habas, Ndoye's substitution had an influence on Pune's progression on the game and said,

“In the beginning we had the Ndoye injury, so it complicated a lot of things as we were playing well along the left wing. After that both teams had two-three chances. Anyone could have won but NorthEast United won finally. Inside the pitch some things happened which we are not happy about,” 

Vingada expressed content with the performance of the team and said,

“As we could see it was an intense game. So today I have to say we won because of our spirit and our ability to fight. I can say, yes, we were lucky on one or two occasions but overall we played better and created a lot of opportunities in the second half. And I want to say NorthEast United are back and still there is a possibility for everyone to qualify and today our team changed a bit in defence as three players could not play"

The NorthEast Coach had called out to all fans to support the team before yesterday's encounter. Acknowledging the fans, he commented on the good attendance saying,

“I want to say thank you to the fans who came out today to support us and they believed as well as we did that we can still qualify and they helped us to win today” 

Vingada continued saying,

“…I want to tell the real followers of NorthEast United that we will continue to fight till the end and we will go in with the mindset of winning in our remaining three games of the league stage.”

When Habas was posed a question if he thought NorthEast were the better side,he disagreed and said,

“I don't know which game you saw. It was not different for us, nor were they stronger than us. We are disappointed with certain things that happened during the match. For the past three years, we have been telling the league to be careful with violent tackles… It was very violent and very hard to play today.”

Providing a fitness update on the three regularly starting defenders Robin Gurung, Gustavo Lazzaretti and Nirmal Chettri, Coach Vingada shared,

 “All played against Kolkata with injuries. Next game is on Saturday so we will see. Gustavo is in better shape than others but we can’t take risks regarding getting them back as it can kill them for the rest of the competition and I think it will be difficult against Chennaiyin.”

The pitch on the night was a bit damp and slippery for the players due to the dew conditions. Commenting, if the pitch conditions played a role to influence the game, the NorthEast Head Coach said,

"Yes, the pitch was slippery and because of the weather change there was more humidity and they did not need to put a lot of water on the pitch before the game. Today, it was very slippery and the next time we must take care against Delhi as this is our home game"

Upcoming Fixtures

NorthEast United FC host Delhi on November 30.
FC Pune City travel to Kochi to play the Blasters on November 25.

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