Chennaiyin FC head coach Owen Coyle admitted they made a terrible error that led to the goal against Mohammedan SC in the Indian Super League at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, Chennai on Thursday. Young forward Lalremsanga Fanai scored in the 39th minute to give a 1-0 lead to his team.
With it, Mohammedan SC won their maiden match of the ISL. Meanwhile, a defensive error from Marina Machans led to the only goal of the night and Coyle said it was an avoidable mistake.
“That’s a very avoidable goal, which is doubly frustrating because we’d started the game really well, and we probably could have been a couple of goals in front,” Coyle stated in the post-match press conference.
“We certainly should have been in the first 30 minutes, and then we gifted them a chance. Prior to that, you remember Dinliana was short with a back pass, so there’s no doubt there were a couple of defensive errors for sure that led to their chances,” he added.
Meanwhile, the home team took four shots on target but they could not capitalize on their chances.
When questioned about whether committing more players forward ultimately cost them the game, he responded “We were dominating the ball, so we were up in the half and passing the move as we were there. But the issue was that there was nothing wrong with our play; what was wrong was that we made bad decisions. We made a terrible error that led to the goal. That has nothing to do with highlighting a low block or anything else; it was just a complete mix-up between two players and huge individual errors that cost us dearly. Had the score remained 0-0, there’s no doubt we would have gone on to score the goal.”
However, Coyle is confident of making a comeback in the upcoming matches after this loss against Mohammedan SC.
“I’d love to be sitting here with six points, for sure. We’re obviously on three, which is better than we were this time last year. But six was achievable, and if we’d performed to a certain level and not gifted them (goals), we’d be sitting here with six. So we have to take that punch to the nose and look to bounce back quickly,” Coyle commented.
Chennaiyin FC will next take on Hyderabad FC at the G.M.C. Balayogi Athletic Stadium, Hyderabad on 1st October.
