FC Pune City suffered a 2-0 defeat at the hands of defending champions Chennaiyin FC at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in Chennai on Tuesday evening. Jeje Lalpekhlua and Davide Succi scored either side of the break to help the Super Machans climb to fifth in the 2016 Hero Indian Super League table.

Speaking to the media after the game, Pune City head coach Antonio Habas shed light on his tactic of going in with five defensive players. “…It is not about this system as we won the last two games with the same formation. It is not about defensive tactics but the first goal, which changed the match, as till that moment Chennaiyin did not attack and nothing had happened and after that everything changed,” the Spaniard, whose team had come into the match on the back of successive wins against Atlético de Kolkata and Mumbai City FC, said.

“So, we do not want to give any excuses. We are coming from two tough games and I’ve nothing much to say as Chennaiyin scored two goals and we did not.”

Pune now have 12 points from 10 games and they have slipped to sixth in the standings. When asked if the defeat could affect their momentum at such an important stage of the league, Habas said: “In this league, everyone is very close and Chennaiyin were very low in table but with this win, they have climbed up now. We are not the best team in the world if we win, lose or draw and I would like to congratulate the referee for today’s match. The referee gets ten points for he was perfect and congratulations to Chennaiyin.”

Pune City now host Delhi Dynamos FC on Friday and Habas hoped for a better performance against the Lions. “You know in the second half the team played badly and I think we can improve against Delhi,” he said.