Chennaiyin FC head coach Bozidar Bandovic heaped praise on his players after they played out a 1-1 draw against ATK Mohun Bagan to preserve their unbeaten start to the Hero Indian Super League (ISL) season on Saturday.

The Marina Machans were the better team as spoils were shared after an intense affair and the Montenegrin head coach was pleased with how his team functioned as a unit.

Bandovic spoke to the media after the match.

Here are the excerpts from his post-match press conference.

Did you feel you deserved to win today?

Of course. 100%. Tactically our performance was very good. I want to congratulate my players for the game they played. Tactically, individually, in terms of showing the effort and character we were good. You won't see my team delaying the game. They will play till the end. I am very happy how they played and I want to congratulate my players. If we keep playing like this we will win games.

What would you want your team to improve on especially in the attacking third?

Of course in the attack we had chances today. We didn't find the goal but we were dangerous in the attacking third. It would have been great if we converted these chances into goals but our performance was very serious in the very high level.

Edwin Vanspaul had many shooting chances today. Was the plan to play him in an advanced role?

We changed some things tactically this week and that's why I am very happy for my players. I wanted to give Edwin a chance to play and he did very well today.

You gave Lukasz Gikiewicz his first start today. What do you make of his performance?

Very good performance. I gave chances to Mirlan in a few games up front but whenever Lukasz has come on from the bench he was very good and he played very well today so this is good for us. The players fought from the bench and it's important for them to help the team whether as a starter of as a substitute.

What are your thoughts on Anirudh Thapa's performance tonight?

I don't want to speak individually. As a team we played very well. He had a good game but I was proud of the way the team played. This is very important. Each game we are progressing in terms of physical condition and tactics.