Defending champions ATK fell to their fifth defeat in six matches when Mumbai City FC edged them 2 – 1 at the Vivekananda Yuba Bharati Krirangan in Kolkata on Sunday in the Hero Indian Super League (ISL) 2017-18. After Marcio Rozario had given the Islanders the lead, Bipin Singh had briefly brought back parity before Rafa Jorda struck the winner. ATK, who are already out of contention for a playoff spot, are now rooted at eighth with three games to go.

Speaking to the media during the post-match press conference was their interim head coach Ashley Westwood, who underlined that his strategy for the game did worry Mumbai initially. “I think tactically, we were well prepared for Mumbai,” he said. “We started really well. Then their coach, credit to him, spotted what we were doing and swapped their system after nine minutes. It showed that we were doing our homework correctly. But for the first 30 minutes, I don’t think they were out of their halves.”

The Englishman then explained what went wrong for his team. “For me, there was only going to be one winner and then we gave a silly foul away on the edge of the box,” Westwood stated. “We give them an opportunity from the free-kick and it obviously ended up in the back of the net, completely against the run of play.”

The 41-year-old, however, maintained that his team deserved better from this fixture. “We did really well to get back in the game,” he inferred. “We scored a goal, just after half-time. I thought we threatened although we did not have any clear-cut chances. I thought we thoroughly dominated the game. They defended well and you have to give them credit. They have some big central defenders. On another occasion, we’d win the game.”

Regarding what his team need to improve on, Westwood said, “For us, we need to stop conceding. We are good attacking-wise. We have nothing to lose and we try and win games. So, we open ourselves a little bit but attack in a quick aggressive way.”

Before wrapping up, he also explained why Soram Poirei was preferred ahead of Debjit Majumder. “Debjit has felt a little soreness in his knee,” Westwood revealed. “So, we’d thought we’d look after him now before it becomes a problem. He’ll be available for the next game. But, I think Poirei has done well. He’s quite confident. He’s done well with his handling and he’s done well with his keeping. So, Debjit has got a task getting back in the side.”