ATK’s return to the Vivekananda Yuba Bharati Krirangan in Kolkata started off on a disappointing note as they fell short in front of FC Pune City’s emphatic display. Even though ATK lacked some of their main players from action due to injury, the 4-1 loss would still be pretty hard to digest for head coach Teddy Sheringham and his men.

Speaking to the media in the post-match press conference, Sheringham reflected the same emotions. “Can’t analyse that (what went wrong in the game) straight away. They capitalized on our mistakes, but we didn’t capitalize on theirs. (That’s all I can think now) off the top of my head. Big margin at the end but it was a closely-fought game. We scored a fantastic free-kick but put ourselves under pressure again by conceding the second goal.”

He admitted that lack of concentration was one of the major reasons for ATK to lose the plot after they scored the equaliser through Bipin Singh in the 50th minute. “We were back in the game with a fantastic free-kick by Bipin. Then we switched off and they got the corner and we went to sleep. (There was) no marking (from the defenders). Not great from our point of view. It’s something we need to work on,” he explained.

Though ATK kept Pune’s custodian Kamaljit Singh on his toes for the majority of the match, the mistakes made by the host’s defence was laid bare. Even the dependable Debjit Majumder failed to make any crucial saves. Speaking on this strain, Sheringham said, “You cannot put anything down to him (Majumder). The first one was a good shot, can’t really blame him for that. The second one was a good header, the third one was a massive deflection and so was the fourth one. I have to see that again. We didn’t really protect him. Sometimes that happens in football. You’re left open as a keeper. It’s not always the goalkeeper’s fault.

“We defend as a team and attack as a team. It’s not just the goalkeeper’s fault or the defence. We defend from the front. We need to do that all over the pitch. Switching off just after scoring a goal - that comes as a unit and not just the defence,” he added.

However, even after the disheartening loss, Sheringham had a few positives to take from the match. “As I said, I’m not really happy with stuff. But I thought we took the game to Pune. We played some fantastic football in the first half. It was one clearance down the line which we should’ve cleared with ease. It was a mistake. It was deadly. One chance and they scored from it. It put us under pressure but you have look at how we started the game, how we took the game to Pune and how we dictated the play. Just one ball down the left-hand channel changes everything. That’s football, you have to deal with that,” he concluded.