FC Pune City bounced back from their setback last week by inflicting a first defeat on league debutants Jamshedpur FC. Adil Khan’s winner ensured the Stallions won their third fixture in Hero Indian Super League (ISL) 2017-18, while Subrata Paul and Jamshedpur conceded for the first time. Speaking to the media during the post-match press conference was the victorious head coach, Ranko Popovic.

He began by admitting it was a hard-fought win while assessing the game. “It was a tough game; they had not conceded a goal before this game,” he stated. “Last game, we lost because of set pieces. This game we won because of set pieces. I’m satisfied with what we are trying; we tried to put the ball down with some 3-4 passes and we were defending well. Jamshedpur were playing well; they were attacking. The atmosphere was good, they pushed us to the very end, last few minutes our keeper saved really well.”

With the win, Pune are now in the top half of the table and Popovic was particularly pleased regarding that. “We want to be on top of the table,” he said. “We sometimes put pressure because we want to stay on top. We will try to make ourselves more compact. We want to play good football, because the people deserve it.”

Before signing off, he also lauded the league and the passion on show. “I appreciate the people who come with such passion,” he said. “This league is young. You get everything here with such a fantastic audience and a fantastic ambience. It (the atmosphere) was very good and very positive. I hope one day something like this can be seen in Pune with 10,000 supporters or maybe more backing us.”