Mumbai City FC played out a 1-1 draw against Kerala Blasters FC in their Hero Indian Super League (ISL) 2017-18 encounter at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in Kochi on Sunday. Mark Sifneos gave Kerala a first-half lead, but Balwant Singh scored a 77th minute equaliser to rescue a point for the Islanders.

While addressing the media at the post-match press conference Mumbai head coach Alexandre Guimaraes praised the reaction of his players after a tough loss against FC Pune City in their previous match. “I think we had a very good reaction. I don’t think it is easy to play after conceding a last-minute goal against Pune and then Kerala scored in the early minutes. I think the reaction the team had after that situation was very, very good,” Guimaraes said.

He continued: “The team showed very good fitness in their third game in a week and that they are mentally strong to fight and to comeback. I think the result is good, especially in the second half, we had many positives. Now we have two games at home, our spirit is at a very good level.”

Expanding on the importance of their upcoming home matches, the Costa Rican added: “Yeah, the fixtures for us in the beginning was very tough. I think the team is improving game by game. Today we improved our performance from the Pune game, in the Pune game we improved our performance from the Goa game, so the players are getting more in agreement. Of course now we have to think about our home game. This league and the games are very equal. We have to now recover well and prepare for our next game.

When asked for his thoughts on 22-year-old right-back Davinder Singh’s performance, Guimaraes said: “It’s not easy you know. I’m very pleased that he played the way he played for a young player and to be competitive. It’s not easy because he had a little surgery on his knee and he practised very hard and waited for his opportunity. I think he did very well today, he’s a very young player and during the game he showed development.”