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Mumbai City FC head coach Des Buckingham was delighted with his team's performance as the Islanders breezed past NorthEast United FC 4-0 in Matchweek 16 of the Indian Super League (ISL) at the Mumbai Football Arena, in Mumbai, on Thursday.
Ahmed Jahouh opened the scoring for the Islanders in the fifth minute of the game, and Jorge Diaz doubled the score with the goal in the 11th minute. Mumbai City FC added two more goals shortly. After Alex Saji's own goal, Vinit Rai scored the fourth goal at the stroke of half-time with a brilliant long-range shot that took a deflection. The Islanders are seven points clear at the top of the ISL points table while bottom-placed NorthEast United FC slumped to their 13th defeat of the season. Buckingham shed light on how it's important for the team to stick to their playing style and score more goals. The head coach highlighted the importance of keeping a clean sheet and giving playing time to players on the bench. "I think to start and start as well as we did was pleasing. I think we've done that now for two consecutive home games, this time to keep going was to keep going to try and continue to play the way we want first and to try and score more goals but only if it's the right time and the right place. So it wasn't trying to force things," Buckingham said in the official post-match conference. "It was an opportunity to do two things. One was to continue to try and make sure we kept a clean sheet which was important to us and then the other important thing which is making sure all the other players that we could on the bench got minutes into because again, that's gonna be so important today and in the final five league games," he added. Mumbai City FC are scoring for fun. The Islanders have now scored 45 league goals in 15 matches, averaging three goals per match. Buckingham emphasized that the players are not getting carried away with the current form and everyone is focused. "Very happy with what we're doing and how we're doing it. We don't get carried away. I've just been in the changing room. And it's the same as every game that we've played so far. It's you know, it's a job well done. But we know now we have some time before the next match against Jamshedpur FC. The players are very humble and very professional. And that's gonna be so important. Again, making sure we refocus as we will do now, as we get ready for Jamshedpur FC." Buckingham added. Mumbai City FC have now registered 10 straight wins. Buckingham expressed that there's still scope for improvement as the Islanders fight for the League Winners' Shield. "There's always lots to work on. I won't share what it is with you because I don't want to give anything away for the next five matches. So there's always room for improvement everywhere. Even tonight in the second half I thought we needed to create more opportunities as much as giving minutes to the players who deserve them. But there are different things we need to make sure that we continue doing to stay on top of teams when we get the chance." Buckingham concluded. (ANI)
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