Playing their second home match at the JRD Tata Sports Complex, Jamshedpur FC succumbed to their first defeat of Hero Indian Super League (ISL) 2017-18, at the hands of FC Pune City on Sunday courtesy of an Adil Khan winner in the 30th minute. It was also the first time the league debutants had conceded. Speaking to the media during the post-match press conference was their head coach Steve Coppell, and he started off by voicing his disappointment after not getting anything out of the game.

“In terms of what I ask the players to do, they committed a 100% and I couldn’t ask for anything more,” the Englishman said. “They (the players) gave everything to win the game, and that’s what we do; we try and win games. We worked very hard, and I think we deserved at least something from the game, but that’s football. It can be cruel sometimes.”

He pointed out the key areas of improvement for his team. “In football, all you can do is create chances to win the game, and we didn’t,” Coppell admitted. “So, I’m sure people will say to me what I’m I going to do about it. We will continue to practise and work hard and we will work on our strikers’ finishing. The essence of football is scoring goals. At the moment we are short, we have to work harder that when we get our next opportunity, we score.”

He also refused to blame the defence for the goal. “I don’t think our defense was weak,” he stated. “They had three shots and they scored from one when they had a set piece. It was a questionable set piece in the first place. Marcelinho was brilliant to win it. After five games we’ve conceded one goal, I can’t see our defence being weak!”

Jamshedpur’s head coach wrapped up by revealing that Sameehg Doutie, who has been a major miss in the last few matches, will be back. “He (Doutie) has got a few personal things to sort out and he’ll be back with us this week,” Coppell concluded.