Kerala Blasters FC slumped to their third consecutive defeat in the Hero Indian Super League (Hero ISL) 2018-19 after going down 2-1 against NorthEast United FC. It was a hard pill to swallow for the Blasters, who were 1-0 up till the 90th minute but conceded two goals in the stoppage time to lose the match and three points.

After the match, Kerala head coach David James was present at the post-match press conference. James lauded his team’s display, barring the last six minutes of the match and said, "We knew NorthEast were going to come hard after their defeat against Mumbai City FC. They did. We defended tremendously well to keep it at 0-0 (at half-time). We worked and then scored a goal. It wasn’t comfortable because we were under a lot of pressure, quite a bit. But I mean the game is about attacking and defending. So, I thought we were all right. And six minutes (of additional time) went up and it kind of went wrong from there."

Asked about the mood in the dressing room after the loss, the Englishman said, "They’re devasted of course. To be leading away from home against a tough opponent with victory in sight and then... It's decisions. Decisions win and lose a game."

Commenting on the stoppage-time penalty conceded by Sandesh Jhingan which changed the match, James said, "No complaints about the penalty. It was a difficult decision to make with that challenge. I’m not blaming any referee or anything. That’s 1-1, and all of a sudden, they have the momentum to win the game. It was already a bit in their favour. We were sort of pinned back a little back."

James concluded by refusing claims that his players got complacent after taking the lead. "No, this is a decent NorthEast team. Decent players. In any game of football, you have to avoid giving people easy opportunities to get back into the game. Giving penalties away is probably the easiest way to give someone the chance to get back in. We knew their game plan was going to be a lot of aerial attacks. They’ve got big men. But I thought we dealt with most of it well enough. So, there was no complacency," he said.

Read the match report here.

Watch James' post-match interview here: