Robbie Fowler: We've shown everyone the progress we've made

The Englishman spoke on the back of his side's loss to Mumbai City FC on Friday.

"We may have lost the game, but we have shown everyone out there how much progress we have made," said SC East Bengal head coach Robbie Fowler in the post-match press conference, after his team suffered a loss against Indian Super League table-toppers Mumbai City FC.

Stalemate a better result

The Kolkata giants arguably came up with one of their best performances against Mumbai. Coach Robbie Fowler stated, "We go out with an attitude to win every game, but tonight we would have been happy to share points with the way we played against Mumbai."

'Plan was to win the game'

Quizzed about his dressing room chat at the break, the tactician said, "The chat was quite simple. I told the lads that we need to be better, need to be confident and start to play in their box." He further added, "Our plan was to win the game. The formation was made to maintain better possession. We did excellent in the second half, as we adapted more to the situation."

Playoffs chances not over yet?

Speaking on his plans for the upcoming encounters, the Englishman said, "We are ambitious. We will pick ourselves up and start working for the next game, as we have shown that we can do better against the best sides of the league."

"It's not over for sure. We know there is a lot of challenge and hope that we will overcome it," added Robbie Fowler.

Harmanpreet rising but Jeje on bench

Young Harmanpreet Singh has been getting a good number of minutes this season and it's good to see a teenage getting exposure in the Indian Super League. However, his inclusion in the starting XI also means veteran forward Jeje Lalpekhlua has been on the bench for most of the time. Speaking about the situation, Robbie Fowler said, "Jeje is a bit behind in terms of his fitness. That doesn't mean by any means that he is not a great player. He will get a chance.

"The Jeje we see now is a totally different than the one we saw at the start of the season. Like every player in the squad, he is getting fitter and better. We just thought that Harman is better suited for that role at that particular time," he concluded.