Jorge Costa: My initial plan was to play Raynier Fernandes on the right

The Mumbai City FC head coach also revealed his happiness with his players.

Mumbai City FC came from behind to register three points over Jamshedpur FC to boost their playoff credentials. The Islanders went down to a penalty which was converted by Noe Acosta as early as the seventh minute but came back strong to win and open up a five-point gap over fifth placed Chennaiyin FC in the playoff battle. Following the win, head coach Jorge Costa interacted in the post-match press conference.

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Jorge Costa mentioned his appreciation of the win but had a rather stern assessment of the first-half performance which resulted in him making two substitutions at half-time. The Portuguese said, "I wasn't happy with the performance in the first half. (On the substitutions) It was a difficult decision to make and easy to explain."

"My initial plan was to play Raynier (Fernandes) on the right because we saw that there was a gap between Jamshedpur's midfield and defensive line and that he could play in the spaces. But I was not happy (with his performance) so I had to take him out for a different player," he added.

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Jorge Costa took a reprieve from the criticism to mention his happiness on the win and the efforts of his players saying, "I'm very proud and very happy of my players. I'm proud of the work they are doing in the games, what they are doing every day in training. I don't know what is going to happen in these next few games but this what we want and this is what we are fighting for."

The Mumbai City FC boss was asked about the disparity in financial might of clubs like ATK, Bengaluru FC and FC Goa - who hold the top three spots in the ISL along with other clubs in the league. "If you ask me according to the budget, I would say that it's not all about the top three. I believe we are fighting in a good way, at the start it was difficult and now with injuries to key players like Paulo Machado as well," Jorge Costa quipped.

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"We tried all the possibilities to find a replacement for him but couldn't. But if you see, all the teams wanted something extra in December but we are here. We are doing our best. If we are in the top four, we will work hard to win there," he concluded.

Mumbai City have one foot in the playoff race but face a tough test on their road to the playoffs when they face an in-form and already qualified FC Goa at the Fatorda Stadium on February 12.