“We need to fight till the end,” says FC Goa boss Carlos Pena following their 2-1 defeat against Chennaiyin FC

FC Goa’s playoff ambitions had taken a major hit when they lost 2-1 against Chennaiyin FC in their latest Indian Super League match. It was a game that they needed to win and Carlos Pena’s men tried their best but ended up second best on the night at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in Goa on Thursday.

It was a Kwame Karikari who set the tone for things to come with his first goal inside 10 minutes. While FC Goa had a few chances here and there but they fizzled out under pressure and hence entered the halftime break trailing by a single goal.

The second half saw FC Goa coming on the front foot and their efforts finally paid dividends when Noah Sadaoui scored the equalizer for the Gaurs just five minutes into the second half to lay the platform for a late surge from the hosts. However Karikari converted from the spot in the 73rd minute to hand Chennaiyin FC the lead after Dheeraj Singh brought down Anirudh Thapa illegally in the penalty area. Overall it was a game where Chennaiyin FC came with a well sought after plan and they worked it to perfection whereas FC Goa fizzled under pressure.

Now with this defeat FC Goa does not have matters in their own hands as they will have to beat the in form Bengaluru FC next and hope the other results go their way for them to qualify for the playoffs. FC Goa coach Carlos Pena was also very disappointed with the result and now knows that things are not in their hands anymore.

“It’s a difficult moment for us because we no longer depend on ourselves and we need to wait for other results. We need to fight till the end. I don’t know how we can play this sport in another way. We’ll fight till the last game and we will try and win in Bengaluru and wait for other results,” Pena stated at the post match press conference.

The Spaniard was clear that the players hurried themselves too much unnecessarily and it affected their gameplay. He highlighted how a couple of changes at halftime helped them find the equalizer but then they missed a lot of chances in the first half only to look back at them at the final whistle.

“I think after conceding the first goal we were in a hurry. We created many chances in the first half but we couldn’t convert, I made some changes at half-time and tried to change the game. We scored in a few minutes and after that, we couldn’t deal with the pressure,” Pena added.

“You can’t be playing in a hurry for 40 minutes. We were not able to carry the ball on the wings and we were not able to create chances,” the Spaniard concluded.

FC Goa will now travel to Bengaluru to face the Blues who are in sensational form and have won seven matches in a row to power their position into the top six. Bengaluru FC were once lingering at the bottom half of the points table once have now not lost a game in 2023. So it will be a huge task for Carlos Pena’s men to come back home with all three points against the team that defeated Mumbai City FC’s invincible run recently and are peaking at the right time of the season. It will surely be a tough challenge for the Gaurs and not only that they will have to depend on other results aswell even if they win their last game.