David James’ Kerala Blasters FC side put in an excellent shift in the ‘South Indian’ derby against Chennaiyin FC. Unfortunately, however, the visitors fell short as Chennaiyin defender Bernard Mendy scored a stunning bicycle kick past James to hand the home side a 2-1 win. Pleased with the performance but disappointed with the result, James was philosophical about the defeat during an exclusive post-match chat with www.indiansuperleague.com.What are your thoughts on the game?It was one of those games. We had plenty of chances, but they got a free-kick and a penalty and got 2 goals and I think that cost us the game.You’ve seen many goals in the past, how would you rate Mendy’s goal?Honestly, I really didn’t see an overhead kick inside the box coming and I really didn’t want to be the one that let it in. But this is football, so what can you do?What’s the road ahead for the Kerala Blasters?We’ve got 5 away games and the fans are going to be with the home team, just like in Chennai and against the NorthEast, so it’s going to be really tough for us. I think this was a game where we threw a good shift in. The ball hasn’t bounced well for us so far but we’ll try to get our first point in the next game. Of course it was a good game, but I don’t want to be on the losing side of a good game.How is being a player-manager working out for you?Being a player-manager is great. Being a manager is not as frustrating as being a player! There are substitutions to be made to get the goals. I’m loving the experience, but not the results at the moment.What is your take on today’s pitch?The pitch was great and made for a very exciting game. It went down to the wire. I think the groundsmen have done a really good job to get the match on given the amount of rain we had over the last 3 or 4 days.What sort of message would you give your team-mates at this time?All I’ve got to say is that we’re up against it because we’re on the road, Chennai have already played in front of their fans and they’ve supported them well. We’ve got a few days to get it right against Kolkata.
