Mumbai City FC head coach Jorge Costa suffered his first-ever loss against ATK FC in the Hero Indian Super League (Hero ISL) as he saw his side go down 2-0 at the Mumbai Football Arena on Saturday. The Islanders conceded both goals in the first half and failed to get back into the contest despite creating ample chances in the second period.

At the post-match conference, Costa pointed to the fact and felt his team deserved more from the game. The Mumbai head coach said, “We started well. We could have scored. In the first 20-25 minutes, we did well. But then, we made one mistake and they scored. And towards the end of the first half, we conceded another. In the second half, we changed a lot.”

“We played well. We pressed. We worked. We had clear chances to score and finish the game with another result. Today was not a fair result. We had clear chances to score. We worked, we played. There’s nothing to say. Days like these are very difficult. It’s true that we lost three points but I’m proud of the players and the work they are doing from the beginning. At the end, we will finish in the place we want,” he added.

The Portuguese also revealed the message he gave his players at half-time. He commented, “I did my job at half-time. I asked the right-back to help in attack because ATK had a lot of players in the middle, and we had a lot of players on the left-side. Also, (Rowllin) Borges and Raynier (Fernandes) were first to second balls. We had some chances, enough to win the game. We lost one game which we weren’t supposed to lose against one of the best teams in the Hero ISL. We are still in the top four and we must fight till the end to keep the place.”

Looking forward, Costa noted, “The most important thing is to show the players the mistakes and to try and fix them. The players are not machines. Sometimes they make mistakes. But my job is to every day try and tell them to be better. From the beginning we are working. Football is like this. If I want to change the way we play in 15 days, it’s impossible. This is what we are doing from the beginning. Some days we are better, some days not so good.”

Read the Match Report here.