We are sad about not qualifying for the sixth position, says Punjab FC coach Staikos Vergetis

Staikos also praised his players for their hard work and excellent performance throughout the ISL season.

Punjab FC pounded East Bengal to kick them out of the playoff race in the Indian Super League (ISL). The ISL-promoted side scored four goals past the lethargic East Bengal to finish their campaign on a high note.

Jordan Wilmar Gil scored a brace while captain Luka Majcen and dynamic midfielder Madih Talal scored a goal each to register their emphatic victory. For East Bengal, Sayan Banerjee scored the only consolation goal for the Red and Gold.

Staikos Vergetis, the Greek head coach was happy with his side’s performance and shared his opinions in the press conference. Let’s have a look at the excerpts.

Thoughts on the game

The Shers head coach shared his views and commented, “The team stuck to the game plan and I am very happy about the result. In the first half, we had certain issues and thus made some internal changes. Consequently, in the second half, we were unstoppable.”

About East Bengal’s equalizer

East Bengal scored the equalizer in the 25th minute through Sayan Banerjee’s clinical left-footer. When questioned about if the goal was a concern, Staikos mentioned, “It is true we concede goals from a relatively small position. One loss of concentration and we pay the price for it. This happened today as well. The good thing that happened is when we gave away the goal we did not give up and turned the result in our favor. It did not mean too much though.”

Thoughts on Kipgen

Manthanlang Kipgen made his first team debut today and Staikos Vergetis seemed very happy with his performance. He exclaimed, “Kipgen is a very good player he played here against Bengaluru as well. This is his second season with us. I am sure he is the future of Indian football in the upcoming years.”

Thoughts on the season 

Staikos was quite happy about today’s result but believes there is sadness because they could not qualify for playoffs.

“We are happy with today’s performance but we are sad about not qualifying for the sixth position. In the last few games, we could not score from good chances for example we missed chances against Mohun Bagan, also we missed a big chance against Odisha FC. We are sad we couldn’t fulfill our big dream but it would’ve been nice to close on sixth spot for a team coming from the I-League.” Staikos concluded.

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