Match 89 of Hero Indian Super League (Hero ISL) 2020-21 witnessed a late own goal by Enes Sipovic condemn Chennaiyin FC to a 1-0 defeat against Jamshedpur FC at the GMC Stadium in Bambolim on Wednesday. The win keeps Jamshedpur’s chances of finishing in the top-four and qualifying for the semi-finals alive, while Chennaiyin’s semis hopes suffered a big setback.

Speaking at the post-match press conference, Jamshedpur head coach Owen Coyle felt that his team deserved the win. “What we had to do today was to win the game and we played a lot of good football to do that against a very good team. I know how dangerous they are, but we had chances before we got the goal and I think we thoroughly deserved the three points,” he said.

When quizzed on his side’s top-four hopes, Coyle said: “All we have done is given ourselves a chance… there are three teams that are two points ahead of us at the moment. They also have a game in hand even though they have got to win those games. If they don’t [win] then we are rightly placed and if they do then we’ll be five points behind them with three games left. So, there are still enough points available. What we have to do is keep ourselves in fight and keep it interesting because it’s not our spot to give away.”

He also revealed the type of mindset that he wants his players to have ahead of a few crunch fixtures against the likes of ATK Mohun Bagan and Mumbai City FC. “I think every game in the Hero ISL is an opportunity to get three points. That’s been shown and we’ve shown through our form against ATK Mohun Bagan and Mumbai City in the first half of the season. Equally there are teams lower down in the league that we’ve dropped points against. So, anyone in this league can win games. What we have to do is take it one game at a time. We have to focus, win the game and then go into the next one,” Coyle said.

“We get to the ATK Mohun Bagan game; great team, wonderful coach and good players as I know very well. But they also know that Jamshedpur is a threat because we’ve already beaten them earlier this season. We have to get to that level again. That’s the only way to beat them by performing at our very best. But we’ve shown that we can do it and if we do then it keeps it really interesting at the top,” he added.

Watch Owen Coyle's Post-Match Press conference here:

Meanwhile, Chennaiyin’s head coach Csaba Laszlo admitted that it was ‘painful’ to concede a goal late on. “I think we dominated the game and Jamshedpur had some moments from freekicks, but we handled them very well. Again, in the last minute, Thoi [Singh] had a big chance to score a goal and I can’t honestly explain what he saw in the middle. The goal was there, he had to just shoot the ball and if the ball goes over or the goalkeeper saves it’s okay. After that they did the counter-attack and then to lose the game after 90 minutes through an own goal is really painful. I don’t think we deserved this, but we punished ourselves,” he said.

On his team’s mindset for the rest of the season, Laszlo commented: “Even if it’s not mathematically possible, we will fight till the last game. We are sportsmen and we have to do this for the team and the club. For ourselves and our pride.”

Watch Csaba Laszlo's Post-Match Press conference here: