Chennaiyin FC head coach Owen Coyle urged his players to be more precise inside the opponent's box as the Marina Machans suffered a narrow 0-1 defeat against Mumbai City FC in the Indian Super League (ISL) at the Mumbai Football Arena in Mumbai in Saturday's double header.

Nikolaos Karelis scored the solitary goal in the first half with his clinical finish in the eighth minute, which ended up being the decider as the Islanders stretched their unbeaten run to four matches. With that, Mumbai City FC are now unbeaten in 10 consecutive Indian Super League (ISL) matches against Chennaiyin FC (W8, D2).

The Chennaiyin FC head coach shared his dissatisfaction with the way the Islanders scored the opener. Coyle also acknowledged the difficulties that the Islanders posed on their home turf.

"Mumbai is always a tough place to come and visit, but certainly the result wasn't merited on the performance," he said in the post-match press conference.

"We were excellent tonight, and I think probably actually we were worth the win, not just the draw, with so many chances we had. We gifted the goal. The goal we gave was just such a terrible, terrible mistake. An absolute gift," Coyle continued.

Despite conceding the early goal, the visitors created relentless offensive moves throughout the game with Daniel Chima Chukwu, Irfan Yadwad coming close to bagging the equaliser. Coyle commended his players fighting spirit, highlighting their numerous attacking opportunities throughout the game.

"Out with that (the goal), (Mohammad) Nawaz saved Mehtab's (Singh) header from a corner five minutes to the end. I don't really recall there being anything, any saves of such, and we had chance upon chance," Coyle shared.

"Daniel (Chima Chukwu) could have equalized in the first half, but obviously (it was) ruled out offside, then Ifran (Yadwad) hit the bar. But we had great opportunities; like Lukas (Brambilla) went through, he (was) blocked. So we were excellent. It's not often you come to Mumbai and create as many chances and have them worried," he further added.

Despite going down fighting against the Mumbai City FC side, Coyle was optimistic about their future. Chennaiyin FC will next face Bengaluru FC on Saturday.

"Performance-wise, there was a lot to be pleased about, but at the end of the day, we received no points from it. We need to be more clinical because we create chances; we get some wonderful crosses in," Coyle expressed.

"And we need to be more ruthless in front of goal, simple as that. If we do that, it will result in seeing us winning a lot of games again," he signed off.

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