ATK suffered a 2-1 loss at the hands of Kerala Blasters FC in the opening match of Hero ISL 2019-20 campaign at Kochi on Monday. Despite taking the lead through a Carl McHugh stunner early on, a Bartholomew Ogbeche brace took the game away from the Kolkata-based side.

After the match, indiansuperleague.com caught up with both the goal scorers for their thoughts. Here are the excerpts:

Bartholomew Ogbeche:

The fans were chanting your name after the match. How do you feel?

It's humbling! I'm really proud to be a part of this family. Hopefully, we'll be able to produce better games than this one, more importantly, win games and keep the fans happy.

On the support at Kochi.

It's unbelievable. I heard so much about the atmosphere. It's just incredible to feel the energy. You don't even need to warm up to get onto the field. We hope they come out in numbers to push us all the way through, in times like this and also in difficult times.

What can we expect going forward?

I want to keep taking steps forward. I want to keep improving. And there is a lot of responsibility and a challenge. But I will be fine. I will be good.

On Jhingan's injury.

It's a big blow to lose one of our strongest defenders. His injury is a big blow to us. We are with him now. We are going to be with him all the way through. We wish him a speedy recovery.

Carl McHugh:

Talk us through the match?

I felt there were a lot of positives. we created a lot of chances. I think we should have had a penalty. Then there was a penalty on the other end of the pitch. Then they scored a good goal, but I think we had the better chances in the game and we can take a lot of positives out of the game.

Talk us through your goal?

it was just a free-kick we worked on in training. I saw the ball falling from the sky and I just wanted a good connection. Thankfully, I struck it well and it went in It was a good start for us.

How was your Hero ISL experience today in front of a packed stadium in Kochi?

It was a brilliant experience. I would have preferred it if we won. I'm a bit disappointed we didn't win. We deserved to win. It was a great atmosphere in the stadium. The fans were brilliant. It was a really good first game for me to play.

How is it coming together for ATK, and what are your thoughts for the season ahead?

I think we have a lot to look forward to. We've got a really good team. We were creating a lot of chances and were a very attacking team. I think there is a lot to look forward to in the season ahead. If we start creating our chances we will win a lot of games as the season continues.

Read the Match Report here.