Cédric Hengbart has been a veritable pillar in the defence for Kerala Blasters FC, figuring in all his side’s matches and playing a leading role in keeping the Kochi-based team’s goals conceded tally down to a respectable level. The 34-year-old Frenchman, who has earlier played for clubs like Caen, Auxerre and Ajaccio in his native country, was substituted early in the second half after picking up an injury and watched his team scramble to a 2-1 victory over Atlético de Kolkata at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in Kochi on Friday night. Hengbart however caught up with indiansuperleague.com for an exclusive interview no sooner had the final whistle sounded, to share his impressions about the match.How bad was that knock on the head today?It’s okay, it was a kick from another defender.Your attack seemed to click today, you scored two goals in the first half, what changed strategically today?We knew they were tired because they played three days ago and we had planned to play the first 15 minutes with a high rhythm and we scored two goals, so that made it easy for us.How has the team evolved in the last 10 matches?It’s a group, so the players who are not playing are as important as the players who are. Thanks to that, we’re a group and we don’t concede many goals."Kolkata was, I think, the most difficult team to play."Cédric HengbartWhat do you make of the atmosphere today?It’s impressive to see that many people here and it really helps us out in the difficult moments like the last 10 minutes. We hope to reach the semi-finals and have a full house here.You are one point behind second placed Atlético de Kolkata, do you think Kerala can go much further?We take matches one by one and the next game is away from home (against FC Goa on November 26). In this league things change very quickly so we’ll stay focused and try to win the next game as well.Which is the most difficult team you’ve faced in this league?Kolkata was, I think, the most difficult team to play because they had good control of the ball, especially when Luis García came on.
