Dilmperis laments missed chances as Punjab FC settle for draw against ten-man Odisha

Bhubaneswar (Odisha) [India], February 11 : Punjab FC (PFC) head coach Panagiotis Dilmperis rued his team's goal-scoring opportunities as the Shers shared spoils with ten-man Odisha FC (OFC) in the Indian Super League (ISL) at the Kalinga Stadium in Bhubaneswar on Monday.
Petros Giakoumakis scored his first ISL goal at the stroke of half-time, providing a slender 1-0 lead to the visitors. Besides that, the Shers generated a couple of attacking moves in the opening half; courtesy of Ezequiel Vidal and Filip Mrzljak, a resilient Odisha FC defense line led by Carlos Delgado prevented Dilmperis' men from converting the chances.
Despite Rahul KP seeing a direct card in the 44th minute, the Kalinga Warriors staged a spirited fightback in the second half as Isak Vanlalruatfela scored the equalizer to salvage a point for the Kalinga Warriors on the home turf.
Following this draw, Punjab FC remain in the ninth position in the league table. They have a challenging road ahead as they need to win all of their remaining five games to be in the top-six race.
Punjab FC attempted 17 shots while maintaining 49% of ball possession. Dilmperis believed that the Shers (PFC) were in charge of the game from the offset but also acknowledged that playing against a Odisha FC side with a numerical disadvantage helped his side in the final half.
"Punjab FC had control of the game since the first moment. I don't remember any chance since the first moment of the game during the first half. We had some good moments, and of course, the red card helped us," Dilmperis said in the post-match press conference, as quoted from the official website of ISL.
Dilmperis admitted that his players failed to win a couple of duels in the second half, especially against the Kalinga Warriors' accurate long balls and interchange of play on both flanks.
"We managed to score, and then we tried hard. Odisha FC played one way. We couldn't address it. Long balls from the keeper to the left winger (Isak Vanlalruatfela). We lost a lot of fights. Nobody went next to him to support. That was the only way to create chances," Dilmperis analyzed.
Dilmperis highlighted his players' quick transition and build-up play in the second half but also acknowledged that his team lacked precision when it came to converting them.
Mrzljak was a constant threat with his intelligent ball distribution and movement inside the box. In the closing stages of the second half, his deflected attempt struck the crossbar, denying the Shers a chance to secure all three points from the away fixture.
"On the other hand, we tried to go from the side because it was really solid. We went from the side. We have a lot of cooperation, overlap, give-and-go, wide progression, and services. All the services went to the opponent's goalkeeper," he stated.
"When we don't have the quality final pass, when we don't have the quality final finishing, and hopefully in the 92nd minute Odisha FC could score and win the game," he continued.
Dilmperis was seen making two substitutions in the 65th minute of the game as he brought in Asmir Suljic and Ashish Pradhan, replacing Vidal and Suresh Meitei. While quizzed about his thoughts on these changes, the Punjab FC head coach answered,
"I think Asmir (Suljic) played really well because he took a lot of balls, and he had a lot of passes. He holds the ball forward. He helped all these cooperations. He has a lot of through balls."
The Greek head coach opined that they did not want to take any risks with his center-back pair as both of them received a yellow card, resulting in Pradhan's inclusion in the second half.
"The two stoppers that we have, they have yellow cards, and we were very high. We were scared that on the counterattack we would have an issue and we would lose players and the game would become 10 v 10," he said.
"So that's why we have the sub of Suresh, and we also have Ivan (Novoselec) with a yellow card. That's why," Dilmperis concluded.