ISL 2021-22: For us, it is a season to forget – Mario Rivera after SC East Bengal ends as wooden spooners

SC East Bengal head coach Mario Rivera admitted that it was a season to forget for them after they were beaten in their last league stage match against Bengaluru FC by 1-0 in the 108th match of the Hero Indian Super League at the Tilak Maidan Stadium on Saturday.

After this loss SC East Bengal finished the season as the wooden spooners, managing a solitary win in the 20 matches they played. SC East Bengal lost 11 matches while eight of their games ended in a draw.

Consequently, SC East Bengal could only manage 11 points in the league stage and thus it was a forgettable season for them.

Meanwhile, Sunil Chhetri scored in the 24th minute for the Blues to give a 1-0 lead to his team, which was enough for them to secure three points.

Mario Rivera said in the post-match press conference, “Yes, it was a very equal match. The things that happen in the box are the important things. We couldn’t score and they scored easily. If you don’t control and play better in the box area then you cannot win.”.

With Antonio Perosevic getting ruled out due to injury, Rivera decided to give chances to other players in the squad.

He added, “​​Yeah, we’ve had some players injured. We wanted to use different players. Ananta and Subha played very well. Also, Perosevic was playing well but he got injured. But we wanted to control the match and we tried to get the ball. In the first half, they pressed a lot and they are a very good team while defending and we couldn’t (score).”

Rivera added that the club’s showed a fighting attitude but they were just not good enough in the box as they could not create enough chances.

Rivera concluded, “We have many good things to keep. The team tried to be competitive, they played well and created many chances. There are many good things to keep, many positive things. But for us, it’s a season to forget and we played poorly inside the box that’s all.”

SC East Bengal will aim to come stronger in the next season.