Chennai: Defending champions Chennaiyin FC’s poor show in the ISL 2018 continued as it suffered a 2-3 loss at the hands of Atletico de Kolkata at the Jawaharlal Nehru stadium, here on Sunday.
With the loss. which is their seventh in the season, Chennaiyin is left with just five points after 10 games and is placed in the eighth position.
After the start against ATK, the similar trend continued for CFC as they faltered in front of the goal, missing out many opportunities to score. For ATK, former Chennaiyin FC player Jayesh Rane opened the scoring with a long-range kick that slotted into the goal. In the 24th minute, Chennaiyin FC got the equaliser through Thoi Singh’s strike. Towards the end of the first half, ATK captain Manuel Lanzarote scored one through a penalty.
In the second- half ATK focussed on their defence but an error in front of the goal by Carlos Salom, who used his hands to block the ball earned a second penalty kick for ATK, in which Lanzorte scored. In dying minutes, CFC fought back and Isaac Vanmalasawma scored in the 88th minute, but it was not enough as CFC ended up on the losing side.
At the post-match press conference, CFC coach John Gregory expressed his disappointment. “It’s just not going well for us at the moment. Disappointing to come away with nothing as our goalkeeper literally had nothing to do in the second half. When you get chances you have to take them, that’s the difference between winning and losing,” he said.
“Jayesh’s goal was terrific but he never scored one like that for us and likely won’t for ATK again in a long while. It was just something special,” he added.
Being the defending champions and looking completely out of sorts, when asked whether the team is under pressure he said, ‘I try and shield my team from any pressure so that they can focus on the playing and enjoying their football. I’ve been in this business long enough; at my age, I don’t feel any pressure. I just feel disappointed and I carry the hurt. It hurts even more after having had the amazing 12 months that I did prior to September. Tonight’s result will stay with me for a few days. It won’t go away easily,” said Gregory.
With still eight more games left in the league, he said the team has to hope for a miracle. “We obviously have to pray for a miracle. Now we have only a maximum of 24 points to win. But as always we just have to keep playing and see how things go. By the end of the month I think we’ll know how our playoff chances look,” he said.