Kerala Blasters FC shared the spoils in a 2 – 2 draw against defending champions ATK in the Hero Indian Super League (ISL) 2017-18 at the Vivekananda Yuba Bharati Krirangan in Kolkata on Thursday. Gudjon Baldvinsson and Dimitar Berbatov both struck with their first Hero ISL goals, which were cancelled out by Ryan Taylor and Tom Thorpe’s maiden strikes, respectively.

Kerala climbed to the fifth spot in the table with three games left to play. Their head coach David James cut a frustrated figure during the post-match press conference, as he shared his disappointment at having drawn the game. “I think we should have won the game,” he opined. “But to ATK’s credit, they still have a mathematical chance of getting to the playoffs. I did not expect an easy game at all. It’s frustrating for us to lead twice and then give away the lead twice.”

He further added, “We created a lot more chances than they did, but unfortunately, the good play that we did was not enough to win the game. But overall, I am very happy with my team because they have played their hearts out right till the end, which was unfortunately, not quite enough today.”

The 47-year-old also pointed out that the team did not get the reward for a good show on the pitch, but lauded the quality of his players. “It’s frustrating when you see so much quality playing well, and you still don’t get three points,” he remarked. “There was some fantastic play today. I know the players have quality and I have seen them flourish. The quality and the team spirit are there. Kerala Blasters FC is one good club at the moment. The frustration is that we were left with a very difficult task after the defeat to Goa, essentially needing only wins. Mathematically we can still do it. We will go for three wins in our last three games.”

The Englishman also revealed how he generally shapes his players for the matches. “I tell my players that they are going to face things that aren’t quite right, within the game,” James said. “That’s football. These things are going to happen if they are trying to do the right things. But we are encouraging our players to do things like that. You can see the effort. You can see the players trying to do the right things.”