ATK and Kerala Blasters FC were involved in a goalless draw in the opening match of Hero Indian Super League 2017-18 at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in Kochi on Friday. Kolkata did a lot of the attacking in the match but were unable to come away with maximum points. Speaking to the media at the post-match press conference, ATK head coach Teddy Sheringham rued his side’s luck having struck the post through Zequinha.

“It’s useless talking now, good game from both teams, it was actually very humid out there. By half time you could see players from both teams tired, so it was all about keeping the ball, and I thought we did that bit better than Kerala. I think we were unlucky to not come away with three points. If you would have asked me before if I would have taken a draw, I would have said yes, but the way we played and took the game to them, in the end I felt we were better. If it was a boxing match, we would have won on points, but it’s not so you have to score a goal,” Sheringham said.

That being said, the Englishman was satisfied with his side’s performance on the night. “Satisfied, yes. Obviously, you’d be satisfied if you’d win. I was satisfied with the performance, I thought we took the game to Kerala, we slowed down the game sometimes to keep the crowd quiet as much as we could. It was great to play in front of a full house here. It surely looked like more than 37,000. But it was a full house, that’s the main thing. And that made it exciting. The opening ceremony, the atmosphere, and that’s why I’ve come to India,” he said.

The 51-year-old was particularly effusive in his praise of youngster Hitesh Sharma, who put in an impressive shift for ATK in midfield and was the Emerging Player of the Match. “We tried to win the game, we made two subs. Two forward players going on. All of them did well, but the star of the show for me was Hitesh. He was outstanding not only attacking wise but defensive wise as well. His positional sense for a 20-year-old is fantastic. I’ve already enjoyed working with him, he’s got a smile on his face always. If he is like that, he will become some player when he is around 25,” Sheringham said.

When asked for an injury update on Jayesh Rane, Ashutosh Mehta and Carl Baker, Sheringham added: “I think Ashutosh will be the first one back, he’s expected to be training next week. He’s got a hamstring, so he’s got to be careful with that. There’s a knee problem with Jayesh, a bad one. So, we are recovering a bit slowly on that. Carl Baker is a bit long term, he’s got a nasty Achilles injury and he has been given an injection as of now.”