ATK Mohun Bagan coach Juan Ferrando wants his team to remain focused for the AFC Cup main round matches, which begin on May 18. It was learnt, immediately after winning Tuesday’s play-off game against Abahani Limited Dhaka, the coach told the players, “This phase is over. A new beginning is waiting for us. Which would be tougher in all aspects.”

Ferrando has given a five-day leave to the players and will begin preparation for the group stage from Monday. ATK Mohun Bagan are placed in group D with Kerala FC, Bashundhara Kings (Bangladesh) and Maziya Sports and Recreation (Maldives).

ATK Mohun Bagan will take on I-League side Kerala FC on May 18 in their first group match.

On Tuesday, the home team had nervous times on the field when they were 2-1 up and the Bangladesh side were creating opportunities quite frequently. But one tip from the coach charged up the side.

He told his boys: “Just think the scoreline is 0-0 and we have to win the game.”

The coach admitted they had difficult times in the middle. “After the second goal, we didn’t have it easy on transitions and it got difficult for 10-20 minutes in the second half. It’s normal to have difficulties but I’m happy the players have learnt about controlled emotions. I don’t like winning 6-0, but I liked when at 2-1 the players worked like a team and tried to find positives from tough moments,” Ferrando said at the post match media conference.

Roy Krishna missed the matches against Blue Star SC and Abahani due to personal reasons. But according to David Williams, the hero of Tuesday’s match, that didn’t affect the team.

“It’s sad that Roy isn’t here. But we have a strong squad. Joni (Kauko) is great, his vision, strength and knowledge all are great. Our Indian players like Prabir (Das), Manvir (Singh) and Liston (Colaco) are also putting in a lot of hard work. It’s great to be part of this team,” Williams said.