ISL 7: ATKMB completely deserved to win against Kerela, says coach Habas

After defeating Kerela Blasters in the Indian Super League (ISL), ATK Mohun Bagan head coach Antonio Habas said that his side completely deserved to win against Kibu Vicuna's side.

A revitalised Marcelinho and talisman Roy Krishna inspired ATK Mohun Bagan to a thrilling comeback victory as they edged Kerala Blasters 3-2 in a five-goal thriller at the Fatorda Stadium on Sunday.

Kerala led through goals from Gary Hooper (14') and Costa Nhamoinesu (51') before a goal from Marcelinho (59') and a brace from Krishna (65, 87') helped Bagan complete a thrilling comeback.

"Maybe we didn't put up a good performance in the first half but I am very happy with the final result. We deserved this score. Balance is the magic word. I prefer winning 1-0 rather than a draw or lose the game. This is football, we don't have a team for scoring 4 or 5 goals in every game, no team in the league has that. Today we had more issues in the first XI with injures and we scored three goals. In the second half, we were fantastic and stayed strong," said Habas during the post-match press conference.

Habas also lauded the impact of Marcelinho who signed with the team in January after struggling at Odisha under Stuart Baxter.

"We want to recover the best Marcelinho, from his Delhi Dynamos days. He needs more minutes and confidence but the goal he scored today was confident, fantastic for us," said Habas.

ATK Mohun Bagan is currently placed at the second spot with 27 points from 14 matches. The side will next take on Odisha FC on Saturday.

( With inputs from ANI )