Lobera laments inability to take chances, Portugal credits team spirit

Kalu Uche scored the equalizer for the visitors.

FC Goa were held to a 1-1 draw against Delhi Dynamos FC in their Hero Indian Super League (ISL) 2017-18 encounter at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in Goa on Wednesday. The Gaurs took the lead through Hugo Boumous in the second half but Kalu Uche struck the equaliser for Delhi nine minutes before full-time.

Goa head coach Sergio Lobera brought on Mark Sifneos and Manvir Singh in search of a late winner following Delhi’s equaliser but it wasn’t to be for the Gaurs. “The idea was to get Pronay (Halder) out in order to boost the defence a little bit further. Just at that moment, we ended up conceding the goal and then we had to change the decision to obviously, try and put more into the attack,” he told reporters at the post-match press conference. 

Lobera added: “A lot of the times, you know, putting a lot of strikers up front does not always necessarily mean having more chances to score a goal. But today I think, we had the opportunity to try and win the game. I think we had two clear chances and opportunities to score, one from Mandar (Rao Dessai) and (Ferran) Corominas, but it didn’t happen. We just have to keep our heads up and keep looking forward.”

Also Read

Its good to still be alive in the race for the playoffs- Guimaraes

Erratic Goa sinking fast after stalemate with spirited Delhi

Mumbai City crave robust home finish against lowly NorthEast United

[KH_RELATED_NEWS title="Related News"][/KH_RELATED_NEWS]

Meanwhile, Delhi head coach Miguel Portugal insisted that his side played for the win against the Gaurs. “Goa were playing for the playoffs and we were playing for the win because as I told you before, we want to finish this competition well. For us and for our president because we have all worked very hard in this competition,” he said before discussing Goa’s defensive deficiencies. “We knew how Goa plays. In defence, Goa suffers a bit, so we tried to play more open to urge them to come forward.”

When asked if Manuel Lanzarote missing the game for Goa may have influenced the hosts’ performance, Portugal opined: “Lanzarote is a really good player. He is really experienced and that counts when you compare it to a young player. He is no doubt a very important player for Goa, but in his place, Boumous played very well as well. I really liked the way he played.”