Mumbai City FC’s Des Buckingham: It was a complete performance by the team which was long overdue

Mumbai City FC head coach Des Buckingham was pleased with his team’s remarkable performance as the Islanders put past four against Odisha FC, dampening their top-four hopes, in match 90 of the Hero Indian Super League (ISL) at the PJN Stadium in Margao, Goa.

A brace each from Igor Angulo (41’, 70’) and Bipin Singh (47’, 73’) sealed the three points for Mumbai City FC before Jonathas Cristian’s stoppage-time goal spoiled the side’s chance of a clean sheet. The reigning champions have gotten back to their winning ways and find themselves back in the top four in the fourth position with 25 points in 15 games.

Buckingham addressed the media during the official post-match press conference.

Here are the excerpts from the coach’s press conference:

This result is a good way to move into the top four. How would you sum up tonight’s performance?

It’s been a wonderful and complete performance from a side that’s been due for a long time. We’ve shown periods over the last 14 games that we were able to play that way but the pleasing thing for me this season is that we’ve been ought to show our performances from start to finish.

A word on Bipin Singh’s performance tonight?

Bipin was fantastic tonight, but he was also complemented with a fantastic front five. The work rate, the combination play, the link-up they showed was supported very well underneath by our two 6s in Apuia and Jahouh [Ahmed], and when we can play through them, the full-backs join in. So, Bipin did extremely well with his goals and of course, the assists for the other ones.

How does a result like this affect the crucial games coming up?

Whenever you’re in the game, the mood does improve, but one thing I’ve been really impressed with is, this group doesn’t get carried away whether we win or lose, it’s about measuring our performances. The form right now is very good. Now, we’re unbeaten in four games and we want to build our momentum going into the final five or six games and that’s what we’ve put together over the last four games. It is important that we get ourselves ready as it will be a tough test against Jamshedpur FC in three days’ time.

Igor Angulo is back among goals. Any thoughts on that?

Igor’s a goalscorer, you don’t need to give him too many opportunities to score goals. As I’ve said before, he’s been out for a little bit of the last couple of games and that’s the reason why he hasn’t featured among the goalscoring charts much, but he’s back and he’s ready to play 90 minutes as you’ve seen tonight. He’s an excellent finisher.