What has been a dismal season for Delhi Dynamos came to an unceremonious end on Friday with the Indian Super League (ISL) outfit crashing out of the Super Cup after tasting a 4-3 defeat at the hands of ATK.
Having finished a dismal eighth in the preceding ISL campaign, Delhi head coach Josep Gombau believes that the high-scoring loss to ATK was a mirror of the season as a whole for his men.
“The game is a reflection of our season. We had the ball more, played well but the opponents had better crosses, shots and scoring chances. The season is over, we have to come back stronger next year if we want to be competitive,” the Spaniard stated after the game.
It was Delhi who took the early lead in the contest before ATK bounced back through three first-half goals. Gombau rued his team’s inability to kill the game after taking the lead and believes that the result would have been completely different had his men doubled their lead.
“We had the chance to make it 2-0 right after scoring the first goal. But, we lost one ball in the middle of the park and they made a counter and scored,” Gombau said.
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“It is true that they scored three goals in the first half, which makes it look difficult but we could have made it 3-2.
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“After that, we were always trying to chase but we missed our chances. If we could have made it 2-0, the game would have been over.”
While there aren’t many positives to take from the season for Gombau and Delhi, the Spanish coach was full of praise for 18-year-old midfielder Shubham Sarangi.
“We are happy with Shubham. He has a bright future and we want to continue developing him. In his first year of a professional footballer in the limited appearances he had for us, we are impressed,” explained Gombau.
While shedding some light on his own future, Gombau expressed his hope of being in the dugout for Delhi once again in the coming season.
“I have another year on my contract. If the management decides and all parties are okay with it, I would like to continue next season here,” the Spaniard concluded.
