Chennaiyin FC head coach Owen Coyle was pleased with the performance of his players despite being held to a draw by Mumbai City FC in the Indian Super League (ISL) on Saturday.

Both teams shared the spoils in a thrilling 1-1 draw, with Nathan Rodrigues equalising Ryan Edward's first-half goal. Despite only two goals in Chennai, both sides had ample chances to score and win. Chennaiyin FC controlled less than 30% possession but still created problems for Mumbai City FC's defence. Coyle was pleased with his players' aggressive approach against the Islanders and felt the draw was a fair result.

“I thought it was two very good teams. An attack minded game. Young Vincy (Baretto) coming through, great movement with him and Connor (Shields) in the first half. We had some really good chances. And again, (Phurba) Lachenpa produced one of the saves of the season when Connor gave a great cross and Gil heads into the top corner. Even in the end later on, Gurkirat (Singh) looked as if he was going to get his goal as well. So all in all, there were some promising signs. Of course, you'd like to win every game but sometimes you got to give it a balance and understand you are playing against a quality team with quality players. But I thought we more than stood toe to toe. We are a very good team which augurs well for us,” he said in the post-match press conference.

Chennaiyin FC’s search for a home win continues this season, but despite that, the Marina Machans remain fourth in the standings, just five points behind leaders Bengaluru FC. Coach Coyle acknowledged that his side could have defended better for Rodrigues' goal but remained optimistic, pointing to their impressive away performances as evidence that the team is heading in the right direction.

“We were terrific tonight. We could have easily won that game against a champion side. We’d love to have won. What we are doing, we are doing very well at it. But again, we’ve shown remarkable improvement this season. We’ve played Mumbai City FC and FC Goa at home and drawn both games, against two teams we lost every game to in the league last year. Went to NorthEast United FC. We lost 3-0 last year and we won 3-2 this year. We went to Odisha, a team that’s been unbeaten for over a year (at home) and won there. What we never did last year. So we’re taking really nice steps,” he asserted.