File photo of Mumbai City FC players during the ongoing ISL 2021-22.
Mumbai City FC head coach Des Buckingham was disappointed to be on the losing side despite a strong second-half show that saw the team bounce back from a 0-2 deficit only for them to concede a stoppage time goal to lose 2-3 to Jamshedpur FC in the Indian Super League (ISL) on Thursday.
The Islanders though were poor in the first half and Jamshedpur FC made them pay for it.
Buckingham though was happy with his team's second half display and felt it could be a blueprint for the team for the rest of the season.
Buckingham in the post-match press conference said: "We didn't start well and then to lose Ahmed Jahouh put us on the back foot a little bit. They went into half-time leading 2-0. We made some changes, got ourselves back into the game. It was 2-1 and then with the penalty we should have made it 2-2. But then we managed to make it 2-2.
"Then we conceded a goal from a penalty with a handball in the 94th minute which wasn't a nice feeling but I am proud of the way we fought back in the second half and we should have taken something from the game," he added.
Being 2-0 down at half-time, head coach revealed the chat he had with the players in the dressing room.
Des said: "We needed to get more bodies behind Jamshdpeur FC. They defend very well and are very aggressive. A lot of the first half we played in front of them which makes it easier for them to defend against us."
"With the pace of Bipin and Chhangte we just wanted to get some support around Igor. So we went to two 10s and played one six and in the second half we managed to do that a lot more," he added.
This result takes Jamshedpur FC to third in the league table and they are only one point behind first-place Hyderabad FC, with a game in hand.
Mumbai City FC will next take on SC East Bengal on February 22 at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in Fatorda.
(Reported by ANI)
