Chennaiyin FC head coach Owen Coyle admitted they could have easily won against reigning champions Mumbai City after a 1-1 draw in the Indian Super League at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, Chennai on Saturday.
After a goalless first half, Ryan Edwards scored at the one-hour mark to put Marina Machans in front. However, Nathan Rodrigues continued his rich form as he equalised for the Islanders after only three minutes.
The home team took four shots on target despite having only 28.4% possession.
“I thought it was two very good teams. An attack minded game. Young Vincy (Baretto) coming through, great movement with him and Connor (Shields) in the first half. We had some really good chances. And again, (Phurba) Lachenpa produced one of the saves of the season when Connor gave a great cross and Gil heads into the top corner. Even in the end later on, Gurkirat (Singh) looked as if he was going to get his goal as well.”
“So all in all, there were some promising signs. Of course, you’d like to win every game but sometimes you got to give it a balance and understand you are playing against a quality team with quality players. But I thought we more than stood toe to toe. We are a very good team which augurs well for us,” Owen Coyle said in the post-match press conference.
Coyle was satisfied with the team’s performance against a strong opposition and feels they have shown commendable improvement in the ongoing season.
“We were terrific tonight. We could have easily won that game against a champion side. We’d love to have won. What we are doing, we are doing very well at it. But again, we’ve shown remarkable improvement this season. We’ve played Mumbai City FC and FC Goa at home and drawn both games, against two teams we lost every game to in the league last year. Went to NorthEast United FC. We lost 3-0 last year and we won 3-2 this year. We went to Odisha, a team that’s been unbeaten for over a year (at home) and won there. What we never did last year. So we’re taking really nice steps,” he asserted.
Chennaiyin FC will next take on Kerala Blasters FC at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, Kochi on 24th November.
