Coach Caetano Pinho hails ONGC’s fighting spirit

by Kaushal Shukla October 8, 2015

Oil & Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) registered their second win of the season, but were made to sweat for it as Karnataka Sporting Association (KSA) ran ONGC’s ten men mighty close in the second half. ONGC needed some goal line clearances and last ditch challenges to keep KSA at bay.

Head Coach Caetano Pinho hailed his side’s fighting spirit as his side dug deep to get the desired result when spoke to Football Counter after the game. “I feel my team fought really well. Today’s game wasn’t easy for us but the fighting spirit shown by my team was incredible and that specially pleased me about the performance,” said Pinho.

ONGC Coach C.Pinho called for the matches to be held slightly later in the day

Pinho felt the 3 pm kick off isn’t ideal for players to play and it affects the performance levels of the teams. He also felt that the artificial pitch which heats up quite a lot in the afternoon creates problems for the players. “I feel the 3 pm kick off is not the ideal time to play the matches. The heat is extreme and that takes toll on the performance levels. The artificial pitch heats up a lot and some of the players get blisters playing on the heated surface,” added the ONGC gaffer.

The former Salgaocar youth player who also played for ONGC during his playing days called for the matches to be held slightly later in the day, so that the quality of the matches is automatically enhanced. “I feel the matches to start at 4 or 5 pm as by then the heat is tolerable. If the ground is occupied, then they (MDFA) should try and do a few experiments and provide better playing conditions,” suggested Pinho who was clearly unhappy with the timing of the matches.

Pinho happy with ONGC’s results after lack of preparations

The ONGC manager expressed his delight at his team’s results (W2 D1 L0) so far in the campaign especially after the delay in their pre-season training. “I am extremely happy with our results so far especially considering we started training only six days before our first match. But the credit goes to my players who have utilized the few days we trained really well. Everyone is working on their fitness and fighting hard in every moment of the game. So I have to be pleased with my team,” expressed Pinho.

The refereeing standards in Mumbai Football are very poor: C. Pinho

The referees were under scrutiny yet again in the Elite Division as both camps seemed displeased with the referees over various decision during the course of the game. Pinho came down hard on the referees and felt a lack of system to monitor their performances had led to a very poor quality of refereeing in Mumbai. “There is no one to monitor them and have a check on the referees performances and that’s why the quality of refereeing in Mumbai is very poor. Today they made many mistakes, but there is no one to point it out and help the referees improve their standards,” added the ONGC coach.

ONGC now face Central Railways on the October 23, and coach ONGC Pinho will be hoping his team would have built on their fitness till then.