Chennaiyin FC were held to a goalless draw by SC East Bengal in Match 63 of Hero Indian Super League (Hero ISL) 2020-21 at the GMC Stadium in Bambolim on Monday. Both sides created very few goal-scoring chances, and Chennaiyin FC head coach Csaba Laszlo was disappointed with the result in a match that saw SC East Bengal reduced to 10 men right after the half-hour mark.

“We had control of the game but we were unable to win the game. Even if you are playing against 11 players, we have to win if we want to go after our dreams. Sometimes it’s not easy to play against 10 players. But we have to make the most of the chances. If we don't score, we don't win the game. So, I am disappointed with the result,” Laszlo said at the post-match press conference.  

Ajay Chhetri was shown a second yellow in the 31st minute but the Marina Machans failed to make their advantage count. Laszlo insisted that his team controlled the game but refused suggestions that there was a lack of communication between his players up front.

“I don't think there is a lack of communication because the chances are coming. Lallianzuala Chhangte played the ball to Jakub Sylvestr and he hit it into the side-netting. Esmael Goncalves also played a very nice ball to Rahim Ali. All he had to do was lift the ball. We have not played any bad games till now. We controlled the game but we could not win so it is a different story,” he said.

Watch Csaba Laszlo's Post-Match Press conference here:

SC East Bengal head coach Robbie Fowler expressed a similar sentiment. “I am disappointed because I thought that we had done enough to win the match. We played for our lives with 10 men. Our lads were brilliant. We are disappointed that we were unable to win but we will take the one point. It was a game that we should have won.

“Even with 10 men I thought we played better football. We are a team that does not want to get beaten. We want points and we want to win. We don't want to lose matches and that can be seen with our performances,” Fowler said.

Debjit Majumder produced another Hero-of-the-Match performance in goal for his team and Fowler hopes that the SC East Bengal custodian keeps up the good work in the team’s remaining matches too. “He is a goalkeeper who is playing very well. He has a lot of confidence and he has got to keep doing that,” he said.

Watch Robbie Fowler's Post-Match Press conference here: