Chennaiyin FC displayed immense grit and determination to take home all three points in their opening fixture against Hyderabad FC, winning 1-0. The Nizams dominated proceedings in the first half, pegging back a Chennaiyin side that seemed to lack a cutting edge.

The Marina Machans improved in the second half, looking lethal in their transitions. Hitesh Sharma brought down Anirudh Thapa in the 18-yard-area just after the hour mark, which resulted in a penalty being awarded to Chennaiyin FC. Hungarian midfielder Vladimir Koman converted the spot-kick with ease to earn his team a narrow victory.

Chennaiyin FC’s head coach Bozidar Bandovic shared his views on the game in the official post-match press conference.

Here are the excerpts from Bandovic’s press conference:

What is your assessment of this game in comparison to the other games of the round?

First of all, I believe that in the Indian league there are very good teams with good coaches and they are trying their best. This is one thing, of course, in the first couple of games, they score more goals and sometimes the games have been wild. I don’t like these wild games, I want discipline, I want my team to be compact and this is the one thing that we will try to do. The second thing is we need to play better especially in attack and I know that my players and my team can do that because they did this in preparation. But this game will help us for sure with our confidence.

Will Chennaiyin FC be focusing more on defence than attack going forward in the season?

First of all, we weren’t good enough in attack today because we lost so many balls. But we need to have the balance, of course, me as a coach, I want better attacking and we can do this. Of course, especially the second half we balanced the game, we came back, we defended very well, but still the first half was not very good, but I believe these games if you win this means something you showed correct, and I am sure we will be better next game. It was an important win for us.

Any specific reason for not starting with Lukasz Gikiewicz?

No specific reasons. We wanted to start him on the sides, we tried him upfront and to have more speed and for no specific reasons, but of course, for us, it’s important every time, even if they play 10 minutes or starting, it is important to have a team. For me as a coach, it is very important to know how many games or how many minutes you’re going to play, it’s what you are going to do for the team and how are you going to help the team, So Lukasz came and helped the team in the last 10-15 minutes.