Sandesh Jhingan was adjudged the Hero of the Match after a fighting performance by him and Kerala Blasters FC helped secure their first point of the season against Delhi Dynamos FC at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in Kochi. Jhingan, who was the ISL Emerging Player of the Season in Hero ISL 2014, made one block, two interceptions and eight clearances to help the Blasters to their first clean sheet of the season as the match ended in a goalless draw. The 23-year-old centre-back also had more touches (68) of the ball than any other player on the pitch on Sunday. Jhingan spoke to indiansuperleague.com shortly after the match and shared his thoughts. Here are the excerpts from the interview.

How do you see this result, one point gained or two points lost?

Personally I think two points lost but you know the form we were in, we lost the last two games. As I say the first point is the most difficult to get and we got it. We needed a point to get our team started, so we have got to get it rolling and build on it and hopefully in the next game we will get the three points.

What do you think about your own personal performance?

It was good but there was some errors I think I made. There is always scope for improvement and I just need to go back and see the videos and work on my mistakes. So I hope to improve on what I have done wrong and build on what I have done good and build confidence from that and personally I think the team effort means a lot. Football is a game in which you can’t do everything yourself and this Hero-of-the-Match award is for the whole team. If we could have won it would have been perfect but it’s okay.

What are your thoughts on the season so far, moving in the right direction?

I think from game one to now, we have been playing good football just that we conceded two [against NorthEast and ATK] and there have not been many shots on target. We have been unlucky in the first two games but credit to those teams they created those situations to score the goals. But we got to keep working, now we have got our first point and hopefully we can build on it and get three points the next time.

What do you have to say about your battle with Delhi centre-forward Badara Badji?

I just spoke to him now. He is a good guy. Well this is football you know, you play hard sometimes.

And what was your reaction when you came to warm up and saw a near full stadium? What do you have to say about the fans?

It’s amazing and I just love them. They have been so nice to me from the first season. It’s been an honour for me to play in front of them and I will cherish this all my life and tell my grandchildren about it (laughs).

What has your ISL experience been like and how have you evolved over the course of two years?

Over the course of two years I have grown two years older but of course I have matured a bit, I hope, and as I say I am a work in progress and I want to improve more and this year we have great players like Aaron Hughes so I wish to learn from him and every season I want to improve, play well for this team and the national team.