Jamshedpur FC edged defending champions ATK 1 – 0 at the Vivekananda Yuba Bharati Krirangan at Kolkata on Sunday in the Hero Indian Super League (ISL) 2017-18. Trindade Goncalves’ second-half penalty made all the difference in a match where the league debutants could have easily had more.

The win propels them to the fifth spot on the table and speaking to the media during the post-match press conference was their head coach Steve Coppell. The Englishman started off by acknowledging the fact that given the circumstances, things were a bit tough for the two-time champions. “First and foremost, it was a difficult situation for ATK, with the injuries they have with the international players,” he stated. “The international players give the team solidity and to be one international player down, it does make a difference. They obviously played only three days ago. It’s my one complaint about the Hero ISL. The scheduling of the games is a critical factor in the result because if you don’t have long to prepare, then it’s hard.”

Coppell, however, made it clear that he was looking to take advantage of this situation. “I must admit, we looked upon this game as an opportunity, and looking at our season, if we had not won today, then chances would have been difficult for us to be prominent towards the end of the season, in regards to getting in the playoffs,” he admitted. “This has just given us that little bit of flip because the top four teams seem to be winning games comfortably.”

The 62-year-old also mentioned that the run for the playoffs was getting tough. “You look at the table, and at the moment, the top teams look like they could get 28-30 points easily,” Coppell remarked. “So, that puts a lot of pressure on ourselves and you need to win games when you have the opportunity.”

The former Manchester United player was effusive when speaking about goalscorer Trindade Goncalves. “Trindade was a force going forward all night; running at defenders,” he inferred. “In the end, a very coolly taken penalty won the game for us.”

Jamshedpur travel next to Mumbai to play against Mumbai City FC, a team that is one position and two points below them, and Coppell highlighted the importance of the fixture before concluding. “That is another tough game,” he admitted. “Big prize for either team. Mumbai’s result against Goa was a terrific result; to go to Goa and win. A lot of respect to Mumbai for doing that. It’ll be a good game next week I hope. Goa played two games less than us. So, they are in a good position and they are still very fluid going forward. But next week’s game against Mumbai is a very important one for both sides,” he finished.