FC Pune City head coach David Platt was left to rue his team’s 4-1 defeat at the hands of defending champions Atlético de Kolkata in the 2015 Hero Indian Super League on Friday evening. After their fifth defeat of the season, the Stallions’ semi-final chances were greatly damaged.

At the Salt Lake Stadium on Friday evening, Pune dominated most of the first half but failed to find the back of the net. ATK, on the hand, scored through Iain Hume in the ninth and 48th minutes and thereafter took complete control of the game. Two more goals from ATK, one by Hume and one by Dejan Lekic, sealed a semi-final berth for the defending champions. Platt, speaking to the media after the match, said his team lost the plot after conceding the first two goals.

“In the first half we created chances and dominated possession. We didn’t have to change anything and just had to believe in ourselves. Goals change games and when the opposition is two goals ahead it becomes very difficult. We’ve got two games left and will look to finish them well.”

Pune got their Season 2 campaign off to a flier winning four out of their first six games. However, the next six matches yielded just three points. When asked what went wrong in the second half of the league stage, Platt said: “Last game also [vs Delhi Dynamos FC], we started off well and we got ourselves into a position from where we unfortunately lost. We’ve played 12 games and we still have two games left to play. We’ll hope to play well in the next game [vs NorthEast United FC on Wednesday].”

Platt also said it was collective failure and it would not be right just to blame the defenders. “It’s not just the defence. They scored off their chances while we hit the post and created several opportunities.”