Tuesday’s clash between Delhi Dynamos FC and Chennaiyin FC at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in New Delhi featured the first 0-0 draw of Hero Indian Super League (ISL) 2018-19. Both sides had chances of scoring but failed to find the back of the net as Delhi goalkeeper Francisco Dorronsoro – who was the Hero of the Match – looked in inspired form having pulled off several crucial saves.

Chennaiyin looked more likely to score a goal, however, and that wasn’t something that went noticed by Delhi’s head coach Josep Gombau. “I think the first half was very equal, we had a lot more of the ball. They sat back and tried to have transition moments from our mistakes. I think we did quite well in the first half. The second half was totally different,” he told the media at the post-match press conference.

Gombau continued: “I think our team was very tired after three games in nine days. That is something very difficult to manage. From there we dropped physically and because of that we didn’t have a lot of chances, and they were in total control. Our goalkeeper had a very good game and because of him we could get the point. So, this is my view of the game.”

The Spaniard made it clear that his side don’t have any specific points target in mind and are more focused on approaching games one at a time. “I want to go game by game, that is important. Every game is important, and we try to win maximum points in every match. Today we didn’t deserve to win, but the other games we played, we had our chances and we deserved more than we got. But this is football and now we need to rest well tomorrow. We have two days to prepare for the next game in Mumbai and we have to try to beat them.”

Chennaiyin, on the other hand, got their first point of the season but their head coach John Gregory was clearly disappointed not to have claimed all three. “I think we should’ve won the game quite comfortably. If we would’ve won 3-0, I don’t think Delhi could’ve complained about it. We had many goal-scoring opportunities which we worked to create, but we didn’t take the chances. We have problems on the other end of the pitch but tonight we were very solid defensively. The second half was just one-way traffic, we just dominated the second half. The Delhi goalkeeper won the man of the match and he kept Delhi in the match,” he said.

When asked to elaborate on his team’s defensive display against Delhi having conceded eight goals in their first three games, the Englishman said: “I was delighted we got a clean sheet from the game. Clean sheets are always welcome at any given stage and the coaches love them, fans probably don’t love them, especially 0-0 games. But, we are delighted to keep a clean sheet. As you said, in the last two games we conceded eight goals which is not like us. Our team was built on a solid defence last year, we were really hard to play against. We were really strong defensively, we didn’t give goals easily. If anyone scored a goal against us they had to work really hard and it had to be something special. We had eight clean sheets and I hope we get that this time too. We need 29 points to get in the play-offs and I hope we do it.”

Click here to read the match report.