Jamshedpur FC won their second away game on the trot when they edged Mumbai City FC 2 – 1 at the Mumbai Football Arena in Hero Indian Super League (ISL) 2017-18 on Thursday. After Sanju Pradhan’s own goal was cancelled out by Everton Santos’ strike, Bikash Jairu came off the bench and scored from his first touch of the ball. The win places the league debutants in the top four and post the match their head coach Steve Coppell addressed the media.

The Englishman credited a good start to the season for his team that brought them to where they are right now.

“I thought we had a good start to the season, maybe not in terms of points return but I think the foundation was set with the clean sheets Subrata had in the early stages of the season,” he explained. “We only lost one game in six, so I think that’s a very, very solid start.”

Coppell also highlighted the fact that despite having a busy schedule, his players delivered the goods emphatically, and he lauded them for the same.

“This is our fourth game in 11 days and we have done a lot of travelling; we have gone across Indian twice,” he stated. “So, we picked up nine points from a possible 12, which includes three away games, and I am very, very happy. But everybody has put a lot of hard work. I think we rode our luck in the second half and Subrata made some terrific saves. But we went on going. Even when they scored, it may have been easy to relax. We had nothing left in the tank. I don’t know where they got their energy from, because as I said it has been a difficult period. But, we have risen to the challenge.”

The 62-year-old also explained why he is never seen near the touchline shouting out instructions.

“I like to stay back and analyze,” he revealed. “If you get too emotional, you can’t really see what happens. People shouting on the lines does not make teams win. Players make the teams win.”

Coppell then explained as to what made the difference in the end.

“After they scored, we had some 15 minutes to go,” he said. “I felt the next five minutes were critical. And they got themselves together. It’s the spirit within the players, it’s the spirit within the team. They wanted something from the game. To get that, you need to stand up and fight and they stood up and fought. We were not just defending.”

Jamshedpur’s goalkeeper Subrata Paul came up with some stand-out saves in a hero of the match performance, and he stated that a collective effort from the team brought them the success.

“I did nothing extra,” Paul stated. “My job is to save the goal. I just tried to do it. We defended as a team. Our defenders, midfielders and strikers did the job well and we got the three points.”