Mehtab Hossain has been associated with Indian football for close to a decade now and he is one of the grittiest fighters on the pitch from among the current generation of footballers. In a hard fought draw against Atlético de Kolkata at the Salt Lake Stadium on Sunday, Hossain and his Kerala Blasters FC teammates managed to earn their first point in the Hero Indian Super League (ISL) so far.The match itself left a mark on the midfielder quite literally. He was stretchered out twice during the dying minutes of the match and required heavy bandaging for his bleeding forehead. Still, the Kolkata lad was unwilling to budge. What motivated him to continue? “I never like to leave the pitch unless it’s impossible to carry on. I always like to finish my job and then leave,” Hossain said in an exclusive interview with indiansuperleague.com.When asked how he felt about his team registering its first points in the ISL, he couldn’t help smiling. “It feels really good. This has been my home ground for a long time and I have a lot of fond experiences here. The crowd loves me and has been a great support always, so it always gives me an extra motivation to play here.”Despite the team conceding a goal in the 23rd minute, Hossain emphasised that it only made them hungrier to push forward. “The whole team got pumped up; the coach also urged us to push hard in every way for the equaliser.” He was also all praise for his fellow teammates Iain Hume and Milagres Gonsalves who combined beautifully for the equaliser minutes before the half-time whistle. “It was a beautiful strike. It was a nice one-two movement and Hume finished it with brilliance.”Hossain was appreciative about their opponent, Atlético de Kolkata, as well, “They are a good team, they have a nice midfield and have been the best team of the tournament so far, and that is why this result is quite satisfactory for us”.And what does their player-manager David James expect from them? “He wants us to score. As our coach also said, we need to convert the chances we are creating. Even today, Andrew Barisic was very close to scoring. If he had been successful, we would have taken home full points. These things are very important for us.”On a closing note, Hossain sounded confident about his team’s future. “We have taken our first point home. This will be a boost for us. I am sure the team will lift its performance as time progresses.”
