Atlético de Kolkata’s 4-1 rout of FC Pune City at the Salt Lake Stadium in the 2015 Hero Indian Super League on Friday evening saw them become the first team to gain a semi-final berth. Canadian Iain Hume played a big role in the win as he registered his second hat-trick this season. In an exclusive interview to indiansuperleague.com, the diligent forward reviewed his team’s performance and his partnership with Sameehg Doutie. Here are the excerpts from the interview.How does it feel scoring two hat-tricks in the same season?Fortuitous! The lads put two tap-ins for me. Funnily enough, I nearly missed the first one when the ball bobbled up and hit my shin but it found the back of the net. There have been many games where I have done everything right, but I haven’t scored. Luckily, today wasn’t one of them. The team’s worked hard, and so have I. We were lucky at times and are a tad bit disappointed on losing out on a clean sheet. Eventually, 4-1 should help us with our goal difference.ATK became the first team to qualify for the semis. What are your thoughts on that?It’s nice to secure our place but we’ve got a big game coming up against Mumbai. After our last encounter, they will want to come here and set things right. So we can’t just rest on our laurels. We’ve got to approach Mumbai in the same way as we’ve approached other teams. So we’ve got to stay level-headed and work towards the semi-finals.Scoring in four consecutive matches, how does it feel to be in such a blistering form?As the season started, I was a bit sloppy with my finishing. Now I often keep getting chances to score goals; the guys keep putting them on a plate for me, and it’s down to me just to put it in. It helps to have the likes of Arata [Izumi], [Sameehg] Doutie, [Jaime] Gavilan and Borja [Fernandez] working with you. It’s helped me nine times this season and I’ll continue working the same way.How about your chemistry with Sameehg Doutie?It’s a massive bonus when you have someone like Doutie have your back, who’s relentlessly been a trouble for the opponents. He’s good, took some time to get back into the squad and now he’s claimed it deservingly. It’s been a treat to be at the end of his crosses.
