New Delhi: The victory against JCT brought Mohammedan Sporting three rather unexpected points in the NFL opener, but it definitely turned their coach Subhas Bhowmick more conscious about his appearance than he was ever before.

While the large crowd that gathered around the dressing room congratulated Bhowmick for his fine handling of the team in the second half, the coach remained calm and quiet throughout. All he had on his lips was a smile of satisfaction and praise for his boys.

“It’s certainly not my team’s best match of the season,” said Bhowmick. “In the IFA Shield and Federation Cup, we did better against Mohun Bagan and Mahindra United, but unfortunately had to bow out for squandering chances. Here we played well in the second half and most importantly, scored goals in time,” he said.

Bhowmick even went to the extent of saying that he felt ashamed to coaching the side in the first-half. “In the second session, the boys rectified their mistakes and came back strongly.”

“Don’t give me credit for bringing in Kulothungan,” the he added. “To say that I planned the goals would be little too much. All I told the boys at the half-time was to play possession football and instructed Kulu to play attacking football more with Jatin (Bisht) and Habibur (Rahman). I knew the JCT defence would crumble if we could put the right pressure.”

The JCT coach Sukhwinder Singh looked crestfallen. “We have given away three points for no reason. We conceded poor goals. We should have wrapped the match up in the first half itself. Instead, we missed chances and allowed them to make a comeback.”