John Gregory content with defeat, Carles Cuadrat praises Bengaluru attack

The fixture was a reversal of last season's final scoreline between the two sides.

Bengaluru FC kick-started their Indian Super League (ISL) campaign on a positive note with a valuable and hard-fought 1-0 win against southern rivals and defending champions Chennaiyin FC at the Sree Kanteerava Stadium on Sunday evening. After the game, head coaches of both the sides met with the press in a conference.

Despite the loss the visiting coach John Gregory felt his side didn't do much wrong and was positive about the effort his boys put in during the match as he said, "Not a lot went wrong to be honest. We gave the ball away for the goal without really being under much pressure which was a bit sloppy and the last person you would want to give it to is Miku, who just put his head down and blasted it in."

Watch: Bengaluru FC 1-0 Chennaiyin FC highlights

Gregory felt that on the balance of play his team should have been ahead. "We started out pretty well and should have made more out of our early chances. When you come to a place like this you try to contain the home side and I feel we did that pretty well in the first 25-30 minutes and they didn't really threaten at goal."

The former Aston Villa boss felt nerves played a part in his team coming out second best in the match, "It is always a bit of nerves in the first game of the season and it is so different from pre-season and not to forget we were playing against quality opponents."

The Englishman didn't seem perturbed by the defeat and was looking at the brighter side of things. "We had a similar start last season, so we can sit back, relax, analyse what went wrong and how we can improve and get ready for the next game."

"The boys like always gave their everything and kept going till the final whistle. No matter what went wrong they continuously tried getting back in the game. There was genuine effort and togetherness in the team. Just once or twice we made the wrong decisions in certain areas of the pitch, but I believe we can improve on that as the season goes," Gregory added.

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Gregory's Bengaluru counterpart Carles Cuadrat was delighted with the win in his debut game as Bengaluru FC manager. He felt the win was down to his team managing the game well rather than Chennaiyin failing to capitalize on their chances.

"The team played a very good game and worked with a lot of intensity. We played well on the counter with Miku, Chhetri and Udanta. Chennaiyin created chances, but they were mainly due to little mistakes by our defence," the Blues' head coach said.

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"The defence did a good tactical job, they held the line well, but the mistakes were mainly personal, not organizational. Like making a pass or clearing the ball, maybe because they were a little nervous as it was the first match of the season. But, I believe we will improve," he further elaborated.

The Spaniard pointed to Miku's goal as the turning point of the match saying, "Chennaiyin are a very competitive side and their morale coming here was very high as they were the champions last season. In such close games, the team that scores first has an advantage and I am very happy Miku took his chance well which helped us to control the game better."