The Sporting Goa gaffer was disconsolate with the poor shift his side put in and believes his side really missed Okolie Odafa in attack...

“A lack of discipline” is what Mateus Costa labelled as the prime reason for Sporting Goa's loss to DSK Shivajians, in a round 13 I-League tie at the Balewadi Sports complex. It was a poor first half display from the Goan team, who conceded three goals in quick succession, and found it very difficult to come back from such a huge deficit.

Subashish Bose scored a consolation to make it 3-1 on the night for the away side, but that was as good as it got for the Flaming Oranje, who remained fourth on the table.

“It was just a lack of discipline from the boys. They were not playing to the instructions, not keeping the ball. And when we have players like Douhou (Pierre) and all in the opposite side, you have to patient and focus on the game. We lost focus in those 15 minutes and that cost us the match,” Costa lamented.

Injury-hit Sporting were short of midfield options and this weakness was highlighted by DSK in the first half, as well as by Costa in the post match press conference.

“Our midfield was just not functioning. It completely failed. You can see the goals that were created by Juan Quero. So the midfield should have been more effective," he stated.

Costa also pressed on the importance of Odafa Okolie to his side, elucidating, “We were missing Odafa (Okolie) up front who can keep the ball and play. Both our guys, Marcus (Mascarenhas) and Victorino (Fernandes) were not keeping the ball in front. That led to constant pressure on the defence.”

Costa argued that despite the fact that they were facing a difficult opponent in the Shivajians, it could have been a different game altogether had they taken their chances.

He stated, “In the pre-match, I said that they (DSK) have a very good team and they were fantastic in the first half. Where we were missing our midfield domination, they dominated us. This is football. We had a lot of chances in the second half. If we had converted those, it would have been a different story.”

He now wants his team to come back in better shape for the next game after the break, claiming his side must do their “homework”.

“This is a short league and all the bottom teams are close on points. So definitely we go back home and do our homework to come back stronger for our next game," Costa said assuringly.