After a six-match winless run, Jamshedpur FC returned to winning ways at their home ground as they beat Kerala Blasters 3-2.
Jamshedpur received a big blow in just the 20th minute of the match as defender and skipper Tiri had to leave the pitch after a clash with his own goalkeeper Subrata Paul. Paul’s knee had hit Tiri on his ribcage.
But Antonio Iriondo confirmed after the match that the Spanish defender’s injury is not serious and he will be released from the hospital soon.
“(Tiri) He is okay now. He is in the hospital. He does not have any fracture in the ribs. No internal injuries. He is going to stay in the hospital for the night. Tomorrow they will do some tests. But he is feeling much better.”
Jamshedpur FC made it 2-2 after Kerala Blasters’ Messi Bouli had handled the ball inside the box and a penalty was awarded to the hosts. Sergio Castel restored parity in the match from the spot-kick.
While Eelco Schattorie had slammed the referee for the penalty, Iriondo refused to respond.
“It is his opinion and we respect his opinions. We have to see if the referee made some wrong decisions and if that helped our victory. But what we think is that we played a good match again. Today we got lucky with the last goal which was an own goal. The team played very well. They also played a good match with a man down. We have to give credit to them.”
ISL
The former Rayo Vallecano manager refused to accept that there are issues with his team’s defence. He rather suggested that the goals conceded are due to individual mistakes.
“I don’t think that we have a problem in our defence. We are suffering due to individual mistakes. One mistake and we are conceding the goals. Today it happened again. The first goal was a mistake. It is not like we have defensive problems. Our goalkeeper does not have to make too many saves which means our defence is fine. We just have to stop the silly mistakes which cost us goals.”
The Jamshedpur boss confirmed that he has removed Gourav Mukhi from the first-team squad on disciplinary grounds. “We were aware of the past. We gave him another opportunity to behave as a professional player. But he is not behaving like a professional, he is not resting, not getting enough sleep.
"So as a respect to other players and the team, he is now out of the team. He is out of the first-team squad. Now the club will make the decision,” said the 66-year-old manager.
