Pradyum Reddy rues lack of leaders on the pitch, John Gregory pleased with his players

Although the hosts opened the scoring, the Marina Machans found a way to win the fixture.

Chennaiyin completed a fantastic comeback away at Pune City as Mailson Alves, Gregory Nelson, Inigo Calderon and Thoi Singh all scored to hand the team their first win of the season. It was a must-win game for both sides, but the visitors got the better of the match and bounced back from a goal down at half-time to win 2-4 at the final whistle.

Speaking with the media, Pune City interim coach Pradyum Reddy talked about how the team played well in the first half and created some good chances. However, he admitted that the problems in defence have to be fixed.

The Stallions’ display was similar to their previous one against Kerala Blasters, where they surrendered their one-goal lead at half-time. Referring to that, Reddy spoke about how the team lacked concentration in the second 45. “We lacked concentration in the second half. Also, the team lacked leaders on the pitch who could change the game or help us get back into the game.”

“We played pretty well in the first half. We had our good moments and could’ve scored more goals from the chances created. The opening goal was good, a great ball by Robin [Singh] and good finish by Ashique [Kuruniyan],” he added.

He also went on to speak about how Marcelinho’s suspension would be costly for his side in their furture matches. “It was an unnecessary tackle. We don’t want to lose our key players. Now, we have Marko [Stankovic] injured and Diego Carlos and now Marcelinho out with suspension. Of course, it has an impact on the team.”

Coming to Kamaljit Singh’s performance, the tactician backed the young goalkeeper by saying, "It is hard for any young keeper because they have less experience. The second goal was his  mistake and you can’t expect him to keep on fighting after conceding two goals. He played a couple of games with us last season, but then eventually lost his place to Vishal Kaith.”

“There were many individual errors in the second half and the players lost their markers which led to the goals scored by the opposition,” he said before concluding.

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On the other hand, Chennaiyin head coach John Gregory looked pretty satisfied with the result and it was obvious from the way his team performed, especially in the second half. “It was a long time since we won. We always played some very close matches before and could never get a breakthrough as we made mistakes defensively.”

“But, things changed today. The boys never lost the desire to win even though we trailed by a goal at half-time. We have our #27 [Mailson] back with his good form. It is good to see him play the way he did last season.”

“I am very pleased with my players. Several of them were actually sick, but they kept on going and never shied away.”

The Englishman looked very happy with the performance of the midfielders saying, “In the midfield, Germanpreet and Anirudh Thapa ran the show. They helped us keep the majority of the ball possession and it is great considering their age. One is 22 years old, while the other is just 20. They both will be leaving for international duty now.”

Asked about what he said to the team at half-time that led to them turning the game around Gregory said, “Nothing changed at half-time. We kept on going the same way we played in the first half.”

“It was a must-win game and we couldn’t afford losing. The players lacked self-belief during previous games, but they kept on trying hard. Football is like that.”

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Talking about Jeje Lalpekhlua’s goal-drought he said, “Jeje was disappointed that there were four goals scored, but he couldn’t contribute to any.”

“Hopefully this is a start for us and good games would be coming. The result obviously gives us a fantastic lift at this stage. We now head into a break with three points. It is a tough game after the break with Jamshedpur and we have to focus on that,” he concluded.