Mumbai City FC head coach Des Buckingham was pleased with the way his team tackled a different challenge that Chennaiyin FC threw at them during their 1-0 win over their opponents in the Hero Indian Super League (ISL) at the Fatorda Stadium in Margao, Goa on Wednesday.

Bheke’s last-minute goal was the difference between the two teams. With this win, the Islanders secured their top spot in the league.

In the backdrop of Mumbai City FC’s victory over Chennaiyin FC, coach Des Buckingham spoke to the media in the official post-match press conference.

Here are the excerpts from the press conference.

Having scored sixteen goals in five games, was it a refreshing battle for your team today?

Yes, it's important the way for me firstly, we play well. And I think we've played very well tonight, it was a different game for us and a different challenge, which we knew we'd face and we will face as the season goes on. And we needed to keep knocking on the door to score that goal and the way that we stopped true to our style, and kept moving the ball. We were convinced at half-time if we continue to play that way that we would get chances and it took to the 83rd Minute. And then we're again it was, you know, something that I think we deserved in the game.

Why do think this set-piece routine of yours is proving lethal for other teams?

Yeah, I've got to give credit to the delivery of Jahouh. And of course, the the runs that are being made this time itself are all rather than fall. But there's also a need to give credit to Hiroshi Miyazawa, who's the assistant coach, actually works extremely hard on set plays on the field on the training field. And we spend a lot of time on them nearly as much as we do for in possession out possession. And it's so important in games like this one, it is tight, if that makes a difference between coming away with one point or three points, that we have different ways of scoring. And that's proved the case this evening.

This match ends Chennaiyin FC's unbeaten run, was it the most difficult game for you this season?

It was a different type of game for us, you know, they sat in and sat quite deep and made it very compact and very hard for us to create chances in the way that we have in the previous games. But what it did do is it gives us a lot of balls, I think we've come away with nearly 70% possession and nearly 500 passes. So that was good because it allowed us to test our structure and our style. And we still created chances within that. So we will come up against different teams who will try and stop the scoring. And it's important, as I said before the game that we continue to evolve our style, and try and find different ways to win games. And that's what we've done tonight.

What pleases you more, a hard-fought 1-0 clean sheet or a goal feast?

I always prefer a goal feast, I said all along, I want to play attacking football, I want to play football that excites me from the sideline. You know, I'd rather win a game 5-4 rather than 1-0. But the most important thing is that we come away with the win. And tonight it was only the one. But it was a very important goal for us. You know, as I said, they serve very well. And they've played very well in the game. So they come away with the goal and the three points. I'm hugely proud of the players.