Stephen Constantine: It has been the story of our season, silly mistakes have cost us games

East Bengal drew from a winning position for the second consecutive game.

In a disheartening series of events, East Bengal conceded twice in the second half to flounder a 3-1 lead to draw their game against Hyderabad FC. Stephen Constantine's Red and Golds looked good in the first half and scored thrice to take a healthy 3-1 lead into halftime.

In the second half, the side made a few mistakes to concede twice and gave Hyderabad a well-earned draw. This is for the second consecutive time that the Kolkata-based side lost points from a winning position.

After the game, East Bengal head coach Stephen Constantine addressed the post-match press conference. Edited excerpts from the conference are as follows.

Coach's overall reaction to the game

Stephen Constantine expressed his thoughts on the game at the presser. He said that while the first half was East Bengal's, the second half belonged to Hyderabad FC. He said, "I thought we were very good in the first half. In the second half, we weren't very good. 3-1 up, we needed to have the ball a bit better. We made some silly mistakes. It has been the story of our season, silly mistakes have cost us games."

Stephen Constantine continued, "But both Odisha and Hyderabad had beat us twice in the season. We have shown improvement. We do not score three goals too often against Hyderabad. But we should have done a better job in trying to keep them out. Congratulations to them. They fought well. Credit to Manolo and his team.

On conceding twice in the second half

The coach gave his reasons for conceding twice in the second half. He said, "We have quite a young team with an all-Indian back four. I am not blaming them for one second, they gave everything in both games."

Constantine's approach toward this season

Constantine talked about how he approached the ongoing season. He stated that this season was about building the foundation and developing new players for the upcoming seasons.

"For us, it is about putting the foundation. This is what this season was about for us. It was always about building the foundation and stopping the rut. For the last two years we had been extremely poor in the ISL. This year, at least, we have shown that we are better than we were in the previous two seasons."

About developing players, Stephen Constantine added, "We now have a left back in Tuhin Das and Athul, who played his second game for us. He is going to be a good fullback for us in the future. For me, this season was about the foundation and building some Indian players."

Approach toward the Aizawl game

Constantine informed the presser how he and his team will approach the final game of the group. He stated, "You only control what you can control. We will play Aizawl, we will give them the respect that they deserve and try to win that game. We can't control what happens in the other game."

Thoughts on Naorem Mahesh

The mentor gave his opinion on the performance of Naorem Mahesh Singh. He praised the young winger a lot and sounded pleased for him to get a national team call up. He said, "It's nice that he got a couple of goals. For me, it is the only thing missing from his game, he doesn't score enough goals.

"He is lightning quick. We he is on his game, he is difficult to stop and I am very pleased that we have developed another player. He got his first call-up for the national team. I am very pleased with him."

On whether the mistakes of Kamaljit Singh cost East Bengal their win

The boss supported his goalkeeper and stated that despite making a few mistakes, Kamaljit also made some very good saves. Stephen Constantine said, "It is easy to blame the goalkeeper. He made one or two mistakes, but he made a world class save at the end. You have to take the rough with the smooth. He knows he made a mistake, that's the goalkeeper for you. One minute, he is a villain and the next minute he is a hero in the same game."