Coach Steve Coppell was left ruing both the result and the circumstances of how his team got there after the game against FC Goa. "It makes a huge difference when a goalkeeper gets sent off after seven or eight minutes and you have to change the whole emphasis of your team,” coach said regarding Subrata Paul’s early sending off. Jamshedpur FC were forced to send Bikash Jairu to the bench to bring on Sanjiban Ghosh to play in goal.
The gaffer further expanded on the tactics that were put in place against FC Goa’s active front line, saying, "We started the match well. We had a game plan to limit their space. We tried to stop them from playing out the goalkeeper but your whole game plan is disrupted after Subrata was sent off at eight and half minutes, everything falls apart."
Despite trailing at half-time, the gaffer insisted his side were ready to regroup and take on their opponents. However, Corominas’ second goal in the 51st minute made the prospect of the playoffs quite bleak.
“Even at halftime, I thought we had a chance. But it was very important in the second half we keep the score at 1-0 for the first 20 minutes. But they scored again. I don’t know if it was offside. My defenders thought it was offside. It’s not going to change now,” Coppell added as he detailed how his team were pushed into a corner by the score-line and the inability to attack effectively due to the missing man.
The gaffer acknowledged his side gave their all in the game, and it was a shame that their run of victories that got them this far up the Hero Indian Super League (ISL) 2017-18 standings had to end in this fashion.
“It’s a shame that what started so brightly ended so tragically. We didn’t get a chance to go at them and we wanted to go at them," the gaffer stated as he shared the disappointment that many in Jamshedpur will have felt, given the circumstances of the game.
