Kerala Blasters FC succumbed to their first defeat under new head coach David James, as Jamshedpur FC edged them 2-1 at the JRD Tata Sports Complex in Jamshedpur on Wednesday. The Blasters were hit by two first half blows from the hosts, before Mark Sifneos pulled back a consolation goal in added time. Starting in his first ever Hero Indian Super League (ISL) match was the visitor’s forward Karan Sawhney. Post a gruelling 90 minutes of play, indiansuperleague.com caught up with the 25-year-old to find out his views on the fixture. Here are the excerpts.

Your thoughts on the game?

It was a great game. We played against a strong side, who is defensively very solid. We gave it our all, conceded an early goal but I think we’ll come back stronger and do much better in the next game.

How hard was it to break down Jamshedpur’s defence?

They’re a very direct team, I would say. Defensively very solid and hard to break them down, but I think we gave it our best shot.

Was this a missed opportunity to take an early lead in the Playoff battle?

It’s obviously always upsetting. We had three games in seven days and to get six points out of nine is not a bad result. We are looking forward to our next game. Two home games now and we want to make the most of it.