Steve Coppell praises Andre Bikey, John Gregory disappointed with final result

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Jayesh Rane scored a screamer along with a Manuel Lanzarote brace for the visiting side.

ATK bagged their fourth victory of the season with an impressive 3-2 victory over defending champions Chennaiyin FC at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in Chennai on Sunday.

Jayesh Rane scored a fine long-range goal early on before a brace from Manuel Lanzarote sealed the victory for the Kolkata-based side. The defeat piles on the pressure on Chennaiyin, who remain in the eighth spot with just five points on the board.

Two penalties and a blinder of a strike was enough to give @ATKFC the edge at @ChennaiyinFC's backyard, as #CHEKOL ended 2-3 in Chennai. More videos: https://t.co/8jtqJIjojH #ISLRecap #HeroISL #LetsFootball #FanBannaPadega pic.twitter.com/cSbOmT8AqB

— Indian Super League (@IndSuperLeague) December 2, 2018

Watch: Chennaiyin 2-3 ATK, Goals and Highlights

At the post-match press conference, ATK head coach Steve Coppell shared his thoughts on the important victory and the last ten minutes of the match, which proved to be frantic for his team. "After we scored the goal to go 3-1 up, I thought it would be great if we just quietly see out the game. Some mistakes created an atmosphere which transformed a flat period of play and we had to do some really good defending towards the end to hang in there. It is just very pleasing to get the three points," he said.

Speaking about the side’s much-improved defence, Coppell said, "Well, we haven’t done anything transformational in training. It is just the way (the team’s) game develops."

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The Englishman concluded by praising the performance of centre-back Andre Bikey, whose introduction to the side has brought about some much-needed solidity in the ATK backline. "Terrific, he has been very very patient waiting for his opportunity. His input on the game, not just physically but also in terms of skill, has been terrific," he said proudly.

From Chennaiyin’s end, head coach John Gregory was present to answer the media’s questions. The 64-year-old was evidently disappointed with the final result and said, "Listen, when you are not winning you are always trying to make improvements to the team. We have played everybody. There are not too many players that can complain that they haven’t had a chance. But we had enough chances tonight even before Jayesh Rane’s first goal. It was an outstanding goal."

"It is not going well for us, everything seems to be going against us. It is really disappointing that we have not come out of the game with anything. So, I have to take it on the chin again," he added.