Striker Hume laments poor turnout for ATK's home matches in ISL

Kolkata Oct 18 (IANS) Atletico de Kolkata (ATK)'s Canadian striker Iain Hume on Tuesday lamented the poor turnout at the Rabindra Sarobar Stadium for the ongoing football tournament's matches, saying that it is "disappointing" when compared to the huge Salt Lake stadium.

"Salt Lake fan base was ridiculous. The new stadium, not so much. It's disappointing not to have the same number of fans," Hume who is in his second season for ATK, told reporters here.

"Second game (against FC Goa) was a Sunday and it was disappointing that fans didn't turn up. When we moved to here, we thought we could grasp the opportunity to fill a smaller stadium. It's sad that we cannot fill even a 12,000 odd capacity," Hume said.

ATK are playing all their home games at the Rabindra Sarovar as the Salt Lake stadium is undergoing renovation for the U-17 World Cup, to be hosted by India next year.

"It's a tough place to make a good atmosphere. To change stadium is a culture shock. "All we can do is go and play. A fuller stadium is always better. We can't affect what happens outside the stadium."

On his lean patch -- the former Kerala Blasters hitman has so far netted once in four outings -- Hume said, "I scored my first goal against Mumbai after six matches last season. Here I have already scored a goal and have an assist against the defending champions (Chennaiyin FC). So you never know."

"We haven't created too many chances this season."

Asked if new ATK coach Jose Molina is doing as good a job as his predecessor Antonio Habas, who guided ATK to the 2014 ISL title, Hume said, "Habas had success with the team. But we are not missing him because we got a good coach in Molina."

"We are not getting beaten so is he unsuccessful? We are third in the division. We are not winning but we are not losing either."

Hume said that once injured marquee player Helder Postiga is back, other teams should be wary of them.

"Last season Helder got injured unfortunately. I was fortunate to be at the end of everything. When you have players like Javi (Lara), Borja (Fernandes), (Sameehg) Doutie putting ball on a plate for me, it gets easy. You have got players trying to fill Helder's void.

"We had a lot of success against Chennaiyin by moving the two best centre backs of the ISL (Bernard Mendy and John Arne Riise) and a lot. If we can be successful without Helder, I wish all the best to rest of the teams when he is back," Hume said.

"Everybody has different personalities. Habas and Molina are good coaches. I wouldn't say their style is very dissimilar. As persons everybody is different from the other."

Midfielder Abhinash Ruidas, who started against FC Goa last Sunday, said the supporters in ISL are not as aggressive as they are in the I-League where he plays for city giants East Bengal.

"The supporters here are different. They are not as aggressive as I-League."

--IANS

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