Kerala Blasters FC’s unbeaten home record came to an end against Chennaiyin FC at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in Kochi on Sunday night. But although assistant coach Trevor Morgan was obviously disappointed with the result, he said that the honours deserved to be shared and his team played well till the 87th minute goal was conceded. “We were very slow out of the blocks (in the first 20 minutes) at the start of the game. We came into half-time at nil-nil, we focused and regrouped and I thought that we were a lot better in the second half. Sometimes, when the game is that tight, all it requires is a bit of quality to be up, and unfortunately, they had it and we didn’t,” the England-born gaffer said at the post-match press conference. The former Bolton Wanderers forward believes that Chennaiyin did not come here to defend or get a draw but they played high pressing football. “They played in a way in which they thought they could get a result. In the first half they were pressing quite high up and in the second half they were quite deep and probably tried to hit us on the counter, which is what happened. We conceded the goal from our corner kick,” Morgan pointed out. Kerala now sit in fourth position with 15 points knowing that if Delhi Dynamos FC, North East United FC or Pune FC win their next game in the 12th round, they will leapfrog the Blasters and make it difficult for the southerners to qualify for the semis. However, the former East Bengal coach was quite clear about the road ahead. “The result doesn’t change anything because we were always aware that we needed to win as many home games as we could. It would have been good to have got three points today, but we now have to play the next two games like two cup finals. We have to win the next two games,” he said with intent. Morgan admits that the team’s morale is a bit down, especially after the last two losses, but he is more disappointed that the team conceded a goal from their corner which he believes shouldn’t have happened because they have been practicing such scenarios in training. “Everybody is disappointed to lose today, especially after playing so well and losing in such a manner towards the end of the game. We conceded the goal from our corner and that is something we have been working on in training. I thought we defended well; the goal that was scored was fantastic, but from him (Bruno Pelissari) getting the ball and scoring there was 70 meters in which we could have done something to prevent it, and that is something we will be looking at in the future,” Morgan said dejectedly.
