U Mumba defied odds to retain title, says coach Murphy

PANAJI: After coming back phenomenally trailing to win the final, coach of U Mumba John Murphy said the team backed the players and trusted themselves to retain the title.

While Dempo Goa had looked almost unstoppable throughout the season, he revealed that there were no special tactical adjustments for the final.

“It wasn’t so much tactics. I think Goa were 100% the strongest team throughout the whole league. They were on their feet until the final. We knew it was going to be a really tough match. We took the momentum into the final. We had a strong back half of the league. We had a really strong semi-final performance,” he said. “To be honest, we trusted ourselves that we won last year. Even last year we had some key members in our lineup. We trusted our players and we got the job done.”

After the initial setback against Goa, U Mumba were certain they would meet them again in the final and held their nerve under immense pressure.

Saying how satisfying it is to see the players execute the game plan so effectively on the biggest stage, he said, “It’s obviously a great feeling. We were disappointed on day one of the league. We lost against Goa. We regrouped as a team. When we knew that we would play Goa in the final, we knew that they were the favourites because of how they performed. We backed ourselves. It is a great feeling to retain the title and be the champions again in the UTT.”

After defeating an unbeaten Goa side in the final, Murphy said that the character of this U Mumba squad shows their strong mentality.

“I think we are a very strong team. The whole stadium was against us when the match started. We were 4-2 down after the first singles. We could only hear the Goa fans. But as the game went on, and as the mixed doubles progressed, we kind of silenced the crowd a little bit and there was a little noise coming from our backroom staff and our bench. At that moment we knew we had real momentum,” he said. “At that time Manush, our captain, did an unbelievable job against a really good player. To turn around 0-1 to a 2-1 victory, I think that was the crucial moment of the match for me, and Anusha could finish off with the last set. We were really elated.”