Chennaiyin FC assistant coach Vivek Nagul was a relieved man following his team’s 2-1 win over FC Pune City in the second season of the Hero Indian Super League at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in Chennai on Saturday evening.

Chennaiyin FC lost their previous match to NorthEast United FC and Nagul was pleased that the team had moved on from that defeat. “Big relief to take these three points, especially after the loss in Guwahati. It was a fabulous performance,” Nagul told reporters after the match.

Nagul praised debutant goalie Karanjit Singh who pulled off a great save in the first half to deny Dharmaraj Ravanan. “Would have been nice to keep a clean sheet, especially considering Karanjit's performance. So, that is slightly frustrating.”

Karanjit replaced Apoula Edel who was Hero of the Match in the last game. Nagul explained as to what led to Karanjit’s ISL debut. “We had to play Raphael [Augusto] to replace [Harmanjot] Khabra. So we thought it would be best if we played with Karanjit in goal and six foreigners as our outfield players,” he said.

For Chennai, Stiven Mendoza scored his sixth goal of the season. The other goal, the match’s first, came from Bernard Mendy. Nagul was effusive in praise of Mendoza. “Mendoza is a class act. He wants to get on the ball and make an impact always and we certainly hope he can continue to score goals for us,” he said.

Meanwhile, FC Pune City manager David Platt said they were now looking ahead to their next game at home against Kerala Blasters FC on Tuesday. “Next game in three days is not ideal but that is how it is for all teams. So, we have to respect that and plan accordingly. Kerala are a good side and we now have to think about that game, and how we are going to take three points from there.”