After an uneven start to the Hero Indian Super League (ISL) 2018-19 season, ATK are starting to find their feet and as a result are just three points off the playoff spot. The former champions will next play FC Goa at the Vivekananda Yuba Bharati Krirangan as the race for top four heats up. 

Ahead of the fixture, indiansuperleague.com caught up for an exclusive interview with the ATK midfielder, Komal Thatal. Here are the excerpts: 

Describe the last month, having got your first Hero ISL goal and national call-up.

It was good, in my first year when I’ve got a goal. I played last year also, 2-3 matches but I didn’t get a goal but this year I got a goal so it was good like I get more confidence and I got a call from the national team and I went there and played with senior players, trained there so it was good, I gained more experience.

What was the experience like at the national camp?

Yeah, it’s a great experience as I already said. The players which I looked up to, they were with me like correcting my mistakes and I have to learn it how they teach me because they’re experienced, and they are better players, so it was nice. I gained a lot of experience.

Thoughts on the team’s scoring issues.

Yes, it’s not at the right place right now as we see in our scoring line-up but we’re training for that, we’re doing our work on the pitch and let’s hope we’ll do better. 

Thoughts on the match against FC Goa.

Yeah, they’re good. They have a good offensive side so you have to think about that and do what the coach says to us, so we have worked on that so let’s hope for the best match.