Chennaiyin FC bounced back from a loss in their Hero Indian Super League (ISL) 2017-18 season opener by brushing aside NorthEast United FC 3-0 at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in Chennai on Thursday. An own goal by Abdul Hakku and a Raphael Augusto strike gave Chennai a two-goal lead at half-time before Mohammed Rafi added the third in the second period.

Chennai head coach John Gregory, however, was more pleased with his side’s clean sheet than the goals. “I probably took more pleasure from not conceding a goal tonight, than I did from the overall result tonight. Obviously, a great result and a great performance but to keep a clean sheet for me, is where the future lies, we need to do this every week. The best teams that win leagues and get to the play-offs are sides that can keep a clean sheet. Defensively, our boys were excellent,” he told the media at the post-match press conference.

Augusto scored his second goal in as many games for Chennai this season and also had a hand in the opener after his shot was deflected into the net by Hakku. Gregory spoke about getting the Brazilian into the right areas of the pitch and how he isn’t fully fit yet. “You saw that he took off a strapping which he had on his knee after about 15-20 minutes. He’s been battling with aches and pains. Rafa is probably about 85-90% fit but you saw his performance, he (was crucial during the) two goals,” he said.

Gregory added: “We got him in kinds of positions where we knew that he could hurt the opposition and he did (with his involvement in the) two goals and that’s why we gave him a rest for the last 15-20 minutes or so and brought Jaime Gavilan on the pitch. Rafa had an outstanding game, he’s an outstanding player. You have to allow him to express himself and he certainly did that tonight.”

The Englishman also lauded the performances of Bikramjit Singh and Dhanpal Ganesh in midfield. ”I sent Ganesh a text this morning. He was still asleep on his bed. I sent him a text saying, I want to see you in the breakfast room in 15 minutes and he came in to see me and was absolutely petrified that I was going to punish him for something,” Gregory revealed.

“I was in fact giving him some good news that he was probably going to play tonight. So, his face changed immediately when he realized that he wasn’t in trouble. So, I just told him to get ready for tonight. And he just went on and played fantastically well, he was in the middle of everything and was very, very tired in the end. He played the game at such high intensity, he had an outstanding game and obviously, it was a good team effort. The two young boys, they were both outstanding in that midfield. Bikramjit covered a lot of ground tonight, he came off with a little cramp, they’ll take a lot of pleasure in helping us win 3-0.”