ATK put up a resilient fight against Chennaiyin FC at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in Chennai but could not save themselves from a 3-2 defeat on Thursday. The visitors equalised twice before eventually falling short in front of Jeje Lalpekhlua’s dramatic 90th-minute winner. Post the intensely-fought match, indiansuperleague.com caught up with ATK’s 19-year-old midfielder, Hitesh Sharma to find out his take on the disheartening fixture. Here are the excerpts.

Your take on the match?

We lost and did not earn three points in this away fixture, but it is important for us to learn from this match. It is just the start of the league and after one or two matches, the league standings can change. So, it’s important to learn from this and keep improving.

According to you, what was the reason behind the difference in performances in each half?

I think, there was more tiredness and hence we conceded goals. But no problem. We lost as a team, so we will win as a team.

What did you think of your personal performance?

That is good, but our team isn’t winning, so we need to focus more on that. We obviously need to improve day by day and that is what I am doing.

This is your debut Hero ISL. How does it feel?

It is a beautiful opportunity for me.