ATK Mohun Bagan forward David Williams insisted on taking away the positives from a heavy 1-5 defeat against defending champions Mumbai City FC in their Hero Indian Super League (ISL) 2021-22 match at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, in Fatorda, on Wednesday.

Mumbai City FC ran riot as they scored five goals against a hapless ATK Mohun Bagan side, who played with ten men for almost the entire second half. The Islanders climbled to the top of the league table with six points from three matches.

"It’s disappointing, I've been part of a couple of games that we've lost badly. So. it's all about character building. I mean, there's a lot of things to work on. I don't think we're going to go and work on the five goals conceded," said Williams, who scored the only goal of the match for ATK Mohun Bagan.

"In training, we just have to know what we're doing and do it better because we know we're a good team and we've stuck to that, in the last couple of games and last season as well. It's a bit of a hiccup, it's a learning curve and hopefully we can get something positive out of that, which probably wasn't so much football. It's just about our mindset, our focus and we have to be positive as a group," he added.

Vikram Partap Singh, who scored a brace in his first ever start for Mumbai City FC, was excited with his performance tonight.

"I am very happy, because I was waiting for my first start from the last season itself, and I wanted to make sure that I score. I had that belief today and I scored the goals," said Singh, who won the Hero of the Match award.

Mumbai City FC defender Mourtada Fall expressed satisfaction with the performance of the team against the Mariners, especially after picking themselves up from the loss to Hyederabad FC in the previous game.

"It was a very tough game in the beginning because we took it seriously and we lost our last game. So we lost a little bit of confidence. Of course, it is not easy against  ATK Mohun Bagan, it is a very tough match. And I think we did a good job as a team today. And, in the first half we made it 3-0. I think it was a very good result today for the team. Now we need to keep going and think for the next again," said Mourtada Fall, during the post-match interview.

Des Buckingham, who was appointed as Mumbai City FC's manager ahead of the Hero ISL, lauded his wards for the commintment shown during the off-season and also in the build-up to the tournament.

"I think we were probably the last side to come into the (training) camp. So we've only had maybe three weeks or two weeks with the full group. So they've (players) looked after themselves extremely well in the off-season," stated Des Buckingham, after Wednesday's win.

"But they've (the players) shown a real keenness and an awareness of from a tactical point of view when we have done that type of work. Because when we talk about the style of play, people often think it's just in possession, but they showed a real understanding of what we wanna do out of the possession, which is a big part of our game plan," added the manager.

Mumbai City FC will be up against Bengaluru FC in their next game at the Athletic Stadium, in Bambolim, on Saturday evening, while ATK Mohun Bagan will face Jamshedpur FC on December 6, at the same venue.