Jamshedpur FC struck late to salvage a 1-1 home draw against Chennaiyin FC at the JRD Tata Sports Complex on Monday. The away side took the lead in the 26th minute through Nerijus Valskis but the hosts struck back with an equaliser in the 89th minute to earn a point.

Speaking at the post-match press conference, Jamshedpur head coach Antonio Iriondo gave his opinion on the game and said, “We lost two points. We need to take into account the situation we are in. We lost two key players (Piti and Sergio Castel) and one more (Noe Acosta) during the match. We are still in a high position on the league table so hopefully we will not have to replace these players. The team might probably have to change the way they play (after the injuries).”

“I tried to explain before that for my system, we need specific kind of players. We are missing some of those players. We are trying to help them recover as soon as possible and hopefully in the future we will get better results. But I would like to say against that I am pretty happy with the position that we are in. We still have a high position in the league even without these important players. If we continue like this, we will be able to continue and do well,” the Spaniard added.

Giving an update on Acosta’s injury, he revealed, “It looks like a serious injury. He is in the hospital right now, so the only information is that the shoulder is dislocated. It’s too soon to know and he is an important player, so we have to be patient and wait for the final test results.” 

Young winger Aniket Jadhav gave a good account of himself after coming on in the second half and helped turned the tide of the game. “Aniket is a young kid. Maybe sometimes he has a lack of focus, something that is normal for his age. So, we have to work with him. Obviously, he has tremendous skills. He is fast and can break a match with one play. We have to keep working with him,” Iriondo said.

Read the Match Report here.