I can't blame the keeper, says Stephen Constantine after derby loss

ATK Mohun Bagan won their seventh derby in a row.

East Bengal's derby losing streak extends to seven games as they lose yet another. It was the first ISL derby attended by fans, who came in numbers. Precisely, there were around 62000 fans at the Salt Lake Stadium. Yet, East Bengal's first derby win in ISL remained elusive. While the first half belonged to both the sides, the second half belonged to ATK Mohun Bagan, who completely outplayed the Red & Golds to score twice. Even though the first goal was a goalkeeping error, ATK Mohun Bagan's second half domination was visible enough. On the backdrop of his second consecutive derby defeat, East Bengal head coach Stephen Constantine attended the post-match press conference.

Here's what he had to say.

On conceding the first due to goalkeeping error

Stephen Constantine admitted that it was a bad mistake to make at that time of the match. He said, “I want to thank the fans for creating a fantastic atmosphere. Congratulations to ATKMB on the win. Football is full of mistakes. Today it was a goalkeeper’s, maybe next week it’ll be someone else. I can’t blame the keeper. We were the better team in the first half and had enough opportunities to score. If we had scored, it might’ve been a different game. To concede the goal at that time was very difficult and by the time we got to recover, they scored another and that was game over.”

On the positive takeaways from the match

Constantine briefly talked about the positive takeaways from the game. He said, “I said a long time ago that we are in a process. This is a new team with a new management and new everything. But with every game, we’re getting better. There is plenty to build on, there is competition for spots. We’ll learn from this game as we have from the previous ones. Now our focus is on the Chennaiyin FC match.”

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On the penalty decision

Stephen Constantine did not want to talk about any of the decisions from the officials. He said, “I don’t talk about decisions that referees make or don’t’ make. I won't use that as an excuse. We were confident at half-time; we controlled the first half apart from the last 5-8 minutes. In the second half, Boumous takes a shot from some distance and somehow the ball managed to go in. That was difficult to come back from.”

On individual quality making the difference

Constantine admitted that there is a big difference in the quality of the two sides. He said, “We know their budget and I know ours. Of course, when you have players like Boumous and Kauko and Indian players like Pritam, Ashique – they have a great squad. All teams will have a problem facing them – be it home or away.”

Constantine on being optimistic about the upcoming matches

Stephen Constantine said that the league is long and they still have a chance to make the top half of the league. He said, “Look, the season is 20 games plus the playoffs. No one is going to win the championship or make the playoffs in October, November or December. We’ll take it one game at a time. We are trying to lay the foundations for the future of East Bengal. That takes time. We’ve seen improvements in the last four games, and we will continue to improve. Let’s see what happens by the end of February.”

Coach's reaction to the atmosphere of the stadium

Constantine said it is always special to play in front of 60000 people in a derby game. He said, "Playing in front of 62,000 fans is – maybe there was more than that – is fantastic. Both sets of fans were great and were encouraging the teams. This is why we play these games. Someone asked me the other day about pressure, but it’s a privilege and honour to play these games. It’s great to be involved. I’d like to win one of them and hopefully we’ll win the next derby – which is the last game of the season.”

On whether East Bengal have been a bit unlucky in the league so far

East Bengal tactician believes that his team's tryst with fortune will eventually even out over the entirety of the season. He said, "I think over the course of the season our luck wil even out. It is same with the referee decisions, some of them you get right and some you don’t. I knew coming in that this will be a tough job. It is a tough job. Plus, when you add the high expectations of so many fans, which is good as it drives us on to be better. We had chances in the first half, but we didn’t take it. ATKMB had two chances, scored twice and game over. We got punished.”