Despite going down to 10 men, NorthEast United FC put on a disciplined defensive display to hold Kerala Blasters FC to a 0-0 draw at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium on Kochi. Gurwinder Singh was shown a direct red card on the 23rd minute for his challenge on Matej Poplatnik. The result means NorthEast will finish fourth in the standings and will face table toppers Bengaluru FC in the semi-finals.

After the match, indiansuperleague.com caught up with Kerala captain Sandesh Jhingan for his post-match reactions. Here are the excerpts.

Thoughts on the season.

When Nelo (Vingada) came in, this was one of the things we spoke about that at some point, you’ve got to know that you can’t make the semi-finals. But we have another trophy to fight for and the Super Cup is one of those. So yes, it’s nice that the season has finished and we’re disappointed we couldn’t finish it the way we wanted to, but that’s football. Now our focus and motivation are towards the Super Cup. We want to win that title and we got to go full guns for that.

NorthEast goalkeeper Pawan Kumar, too, shared his thoughts on the match and the road ahead for the Highlanders as the head into the semi-finals.

Thoughts on the match.

Yeah, it was very difficult for 10 men to face 11, but it’s good. We played well with 10 men. It was a good match.

Thoughts on NorthEast United FC qualifying for the first time.

Yeah, I feel so proud because, for four seasons, we couldn’t do anything, but this season, we’ve qualified for the semi-finals. I’m so proud and so happy.