Odisha FC’s head coach Josep Gombau was content after his team shared the spoils with Chennaiyin FC following a 2-2 draw at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, Chennai on Thursday. The Kalinga Warriors took the lead on two occasions but the home team was able to bounce back.
Diego Mauricio continued the good work for Marina Machans as he scored in the 24th minute. However, the hosts were quick to equalize through Anirudh Thapa after only one minute.
Isak Ralte then found the back of the net soon after the halftime break but El Khayati equalized for Chennaiyin FC.
“It’s a good point, away from home. And we need to compete game by game. We have four more games and at the end of the season, we will see where we are. We are aiming to be in the top six and we want to play the playoffs,” Gombau said in the official post-match press conference.
Gombau went on to add that they are doing a good job while playing in the home conditions and they need to continue the good show.
“We are a team that is doing well at home. It’s not easy to get points away from home. We played three games back to back. We have one more away game and three matches are going to be at home, which we need to be optimistic about and work game by game but we need to have this hunger to be in the playoffs,” Gombau said.
Chennaiyin FC took seven shots on target and thus Gombau was happy that his team was able to get a point out of the game.
“The point that we got against Chennaiyin FC is a good one, knowing that Chennaiyin FC had a lot of chances and the last part of the game we defended our point. I’m also happy that we used different players and this shows the strength of the team and we need everybody because we play every four days. Everybody is bringing in the mentality and we want to be in the top six,” Gombau stated.
“I made the changes after half-time because our team plays again after three days, so made the rotations to keep our players fresh for the fixture against FC Goa,” Gombau concluded.
Odisha FC will next take on FC Goa at the Kalinga Stadium, Bhubaneswar on Monday.
