Chennaiyin FC head coach Owen Coyle believed that it was a hard-fought match against FC Goa but commended his players’ attacking mindset after playing out a 2-2 draw in the Indian Super League (ISL) at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in Chennai on Thursday.

The hosts broke the deadlock with Wilmar Jordan Gil’s goal, who has now scored in each of his four starts against the Gaurs. Despite generating numerous offensive moves with Connor Shields, Lukas Brambilla, and others, the Marina Machans couldn’t increase their lead.

Manolo Marquez’s men found themselves back in the game, with Udanta Singh netting the equaliser at the stroke of half-time. The visitors started the second half with a more offensive approach, resulting in the Gaurs taking the lead courtesy of Armando Sadiku’s penalty goal.

However, Chennaiyin FC scored the equaliser with super-sub Daniel Chima Chukwu’s headed goal, salvaging a point from this intensifying fixture. With that point, Coyle’s men climbed to the fifth spot in the league table with eight points from five matches.

“We have to accept that FC Goa were dangerous, as were we. Every time we went forward, we looked as though we could score, and I felt FC Goa had the real cutting edge,” Coyle said in the post-match press conference.

“I knew we would have that problem because obviously Ankit (Mukherjee) is injured, (PC) Laldinpuia is suspended, and as much as Ryan (Edwards) didn't put up a play, they were in different slots, so really we changed our whole back four, and FC Goa got very good players (with) (Dejan) Drazic, (Armando) Sadiku, and Boris (Singh), who I know well,” he explained, sharing his assessment on their performance.

The Chennaiyin FC head coach made a couple of substitutions in the second half to control the tempo of the game. Significantly, Chima Chukwu scored the important equaliser coming off the bench, helping his team register another point against FC Goa.

While quizzed in this regard, Coyle answered,

“I made the changes. I felt we needed a bit of spark, a bit of freshness. That was my observation, and that's what we did.”

“The boys who came in were excellent. Elsinho, Vincy (Barretto), Gurkirat (Singh), Jitendra (Singh) came in, and Daniel (Chima Chukwu) also. So, I thought the subs made a real impact. He got the equaliser, and from then on, there was only one team going to win that game,” he continued.

Having found themselves back in the game with Chukwu's 79th-minute goal, the hosts displayed their desperation and determination to get the better of the Gaurs while playing on their home turf. With new players coming on in the second half, Coyle’s men continued to orchestrate offensive moves in search of the winner.

“At that point, at 2-2, I felt we were the team that could go on and win the game. And that's the spirit we've got. We're never, ever, even when we go behind; we're never, ever beaten. This group doesn't know that,” Coyle remarked.

Coyle showered praise on his players’ performance, especially how they showed their character despite trailing by a goal down in the second half. Sharing the significance of getting a point against FC Goa, the head coach said,

“I think there are little things we could be better at, but their effort, the amount of chances and crosses we create— maybe we just need a little bit better quality, but, yeah, I think it could be a very important point.”

“It could have been three. If there was a spell in the game, it could have been zero, and then we show we get back to one, and probably could have gone on and won at the end,” he signed off.