KATHMANDU: Nepal's coach Raju Kaji Shakya said Nepal deserved the victory over India.

Commenting on Nepal's performance after they defeated the hosts 2-1 in Guwahati, Shakya acknowledged that Nepal failed to perform in the first half, but a change in strategy in the second half saw them get the better of India.

Shakya was the captain when Nepal won the gold medal in men’s football in the regional sports gala in Dhaka in 1993.

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“Kumam Udanta Singh and Halicharan Nazary were doing a lot of damages for us in the first half, but in the second we marked them tightly and got the goals," ANFA quoted Shakya as saying after the match.

"This result is the outcome of tremendous hard work by the entire team. We deserved the victory,” said Shakya.

Meanwhile, Indian coach Lee Alan Johnson said that India had dominated the entire field in the first half but failure to take chances that came their way denied them of the win.

“ We created chances in the second half as well but in football when you don’t take the chances that come your way, we will lose."

He went on to admire Prakash Budhathoki's free-kick that brought Nepal back to the game.

"The free-kick scored was world class. No keeper in the world could have stopped that from going in,” Johnson added.