'Everybody can see the replay': NorthEast United assistant coach calls for action

Paul Groves also asked higher authorities to look at replays of the disallowed goal.

NorthEast United will certainly feel hard done after a controversial offside call denied them a crucial equaliser in stoppage time at the Sree Kanteerva Stadium in Bengaluru. Bengaluru FC walked away with all three points, thanks to a late Alan Costa winner. The game also saw NEUFC head coach Marco Balbul sent off for a confrontation with the linesman following the incident.

Costa opened the scoring for Bengaluru FC late in the second half with a header, before NorthEast United pulled a goal back that was disallowed for offside under controversial circumstances. Jon Gaztanaga seemed to have scored the equaliser for the Highlanders with a stunning strike from the edge of the box. However, the goal was ruled out for an offside call by the linesman leading to confrontation with the NorthEast United players.

In the aftermath of the incident, the Highlanders' head coach Marco Balbul saw a straight red. Therefore, assistant coach Paul Groves showed up at the post-match press conference and shared his thoughts.

Thoughts on the game

The Englishman shared his thoughts on the game. He said that his side did not create many chances but were also unlucky to have a goal disallowed.

“You have to take all the 90 minutes as a whole. We created chances and deserved more than a defeat against the team that has the best home record in the league. We are very disappointed because the goal was ruled out, we didn’t create enough chances,” said Groves.

Thoughts on the disallowed goal

Paul also spoke about the offside goal that led to his side’s defeat. He said that the authorities should look into the matter and decide the next course of action.

“Everybody can see the replay, I don’t need to say anything about the referee. We play our football in our way and we hope to improve. The higher authorities should look into it and decide what is to be done,” he asserted.

Emil Benny's Injury

Emil Benny was taken off in the first-half itself and couldn’t make much of an impact. The assistant coach revealed the reason behind the forced substitution and said: “It wasn’t an injury. He dislocated his shoulder and played with discomfort that is why we took him off to avoid anything serious."

Missed chances

NorthEast United created a few scoring chances, but were on the back foot when it came to the final touch. Paul appreciated the players’ hardwork and said that they can be proud of their performance.

“We’ll take the positives from the game. The hardest thing in football is to score a goal. But that can happen sometimes and we have to keep working to improve. We had a well-documented pre-season and the players can be very proud of what they displayed tonight,” he replied.

Fans

Groves did not hold back to appreciate the presence of NorthEast United FC fans and assured them of better performances in the matches to come.

“The fans and supporters have given us so much and I think that's the reason why the players show appreciation towards them at the end of the game. They were behind us and hopefully going forward we can give them something to cheer for,” he concluded.