Former Barcelona assistant coach Albert Roca says he is proud of his Bengaluru FC players who survived "a little war" in Singapore to advance to the last four of the AFC Cup.
The Indian champions held on for a 0-0 draw in the second leg of their quarterfinal on Wednesday night for a 1-0 victory on aggregate over Tampines Rovers.
Roca, who took over from Ashley Westwood in July, was delighted to see his side keep a clean sheet at Jalan Besar Stadium to earn a semifinal against defending Johor Darul Ta'zim.
"We were prepared for a little war here tonight," Roca told the-afc.com. "We had to defend and be compact, and try to achieve a good balance.
"For long periods in the game, we could not keep control, but during those short periods when we had the ball, we deserved to kill the game off and not have to wait for the final whistle."
The result means a re-match against JDT who comfortably defeated them in the AFC Cup group stages. It will be a tall order for Bengaluru to knock out the Southern Tigers, given that the Indian side are out of season at the moment.
"The problem for us is we are not having any competitive local matches, so we will have to find out how they perform," he said.
Head Coach @RocaDT_Oficial has called for his side to be positive following their passage to the @AFCCup semifinals: https://t.co/SoQWBqXJqh pic.twitter.com/icE7nVtPh6
- Bengaluru FC (@bengalurufc) September 21, 2016
"We have to be positive and resolve to be better in some aspects of our game from what I saw tonight."
As for Tampines Rovers coach Akbar Nawas, he was left ruing his side's ability to score in a fourth consecutive match in all competitions.
"If we create many chances but are not clinical in front of goal, what can we do?" he said. "The ball just didn't want to go in.
"If we had more composure and concentration, we could have scored, especially in the last few minutes."
Looking on the positive side, Akbar believes Tampines have gained confidence to do well in future continental campaigns.
"We have gone this far in the AFC Cup," he added. "So our goal in future campaigns will be to at least advance from the group stage."