Mumbai City FC suffered a 1 – 0 defeat at the hands of Kerala Blasters FC in Hero Indian Super League (ISL) 2017-18 at the Mumbai Football Arena on Sunday. Iain Hume’s first half strike decided the three points in a match which could have gone either way. This was the Islanders’ fourth loss of the season and speaking to the media during the post-match presser was their head coach, Alexandre Guimaraes.

The Costa Rican explained what went against them in defeat after the freekick in the build-up to Kerala’s goal. “I don’t know why they allowed play when the ball was five meters away and then let it go,” Guimaraes said. “And of course, then we tried to recover which is not easy because we are playing our game and they are playing their game. We tried to impose our game. When we saw that goal, we tried different ways to get a draw, but we could not. So, now we have to just think ahead to receive Bengaluru here (in Mumbai). Because of the results that are going on, everybody has a chance.”

Guimaraes further added that the loss was perhaps a bit hard on his team. “They (Kerala) did not have the chance to hurt us with their kind of game,” he stated. “And they got a situation, and from the beginning we tried to impose the game that we have been playing lately. Again, in the second half, they made a substitution to try a different kind of approach. But I think we handled it also and we also took some risks to draw the game. There were some situations where we knocked at the door, but could not work it (out).”

The 58-year-old is, however, not thinking about the past, and focusing instead on the game ahead. “We talked about our home games being important and we should have got a point,” Guimaraes said. “Next, we have a clash against Bengaluru on Thursday. It is an important match as they lost also. You cannot predict anything. The league won’t be defined till the last game.”