A jubilant Kerala Blasters FC head coach David James denied at the post-match conference that his team had planned to waste time as a tactic, after his side had edged past Chennaiyin FC 4-3 on the aggregate to book their place in the Hero Indian Super League final on Tuesday night.“Not at all, you saw me on the bench, I was actually going mad. I had no anticipation that our team would waste time,” said James, in reply to a question on the subject. “I was not happy, I thought we could win the game. I told the team that if we do the same thing we did last time, we would win the game. The sending off (of James McAllister) had a massive impact on how the game was going to go, (Bernard) Mendy was a threat, (Marco) Materazzi was also dangerous because of his size,” he added.The former England goalkeeper conceded that there was an element of luck in their progression today, but clarified that every team needs luck to win a tournament. “As an avid football fan I think any team that wins a trophy has to have an element of luck. But I wouldn’t say that we were lucky; obviously, the sending off was lucky for Chennai, but our team fought really hard and once again, we have injuries going into the final; so that’s going to be a concern,” James said.The former Liverpool, Manchester City and Portsmouth custodian, who was bestowed with the Member of the British Empire honour for his services to football and charity, said he was surprised to see Chennai’s marquee player and league top scorer Elano Blumer and also his impressive Brazilian colleague Bruno Pelissari on the bench. He however said he was not bothered about pre-match speculation as to who from the rival camp would play or not. “The usual nature of football and the wives’ tales of who’s starting, who’s going to play where and the formations and everything, I wasn’t so interested in them because most of them are false,” James quipped.The Englishman admitted that he was a very worried man when eight minutes were added to the regulation time as the hosts were all over his side. “The only thing I was worried about was the time being added on after the 90 minutes were completed, because all the momentum was being created by Chennai. I thought if they pressed on in those last eight minutes we would be out,” he opined.However, James insisted there wasn’t any plan to make it 3-3 and score in extra time and ride into the final. “I don’t care how it happened, we’re in the final and I’m the happiest manager in football at the moment,” he concluded.
