PKL 2019 | Referees are also humans, anything could’ve happened, says Gujarat coach Manpreet Singh

SportsCafe Desk

BySportsCafe Desk, SportsCafe Editor

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An ecstatic Manpreet Singh refused to blame the refereeing errors in Gujarat Fortunegiants’ enthralling battle with Puneri Paltan after his side managed their first win of the campaign. Singh also stated that his team needed few games to get going after his players got the strategies right.

Gujarat Fortunegiants needed a brilliant second-half display by their players to overcome a lack lustrous Puneri Paltan side as Manpreet Singh saw his boys winning the match 34-28. However, things could have been different after the referees decided to cancel off the defence's Super Tackle on Nitin Tomar for a clear shirt pull. The officials let Tomar stay on the mat and Gujarat, instead of being up by a point, found themselves down 11-9. However, the campaign’s first win found the excited Gujarat coach refusing to blame the officials.

“They are also humans... It was a thrilling, exciting match. Anything could have happened. When you are under that sort of pressure, you feel that they’re giving decisions against you. All in all, it was a great match and the referees did a great job of not succumbing to the pressure,” said Singh in the post-match press conference.

After drawing the first match 32-32 against Dabang Delhi K.C, Gujarat faced a huge 32-25 loss against Haryana Steelers. The squad had undergone changes prior to the season and after their win over Pune, Manpreet Singh stated that the team needed time to get things going.

“Every team takes one to two matches to get set. This is what happened with us last season as well. We are happy because our hard work has paid off, we got our strategies right today. Puneri Paltan is a very strong team. They are a well-balanced team with strong raiders and defenders, so to beat them makes me very proud of my young team,” Singh said.

It was one of those days for Pune when nothing went for them apart from Nitin Tomar, who managed as many as 13 points for the side with Girish Maruti Ernak (6) being the second most successful player.

“We gave away three cheap self-out points and that cost us the game. (Nitin) Tomar was outstanding yet again. Apart from that, we didn’t see much success. We’ll address that before out next game,” said coach Ashan Kumar.

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