ISL 2019-20: After breaking goal drought, Chennaiyin look to get back-to-back wins

Buoyed by their first goals of the competition which led to their first win of the season, Chennaiyin FC will look to continue their winning momentum when they take on Odisha FC at home on Thursday evening.

The Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium witnessed dramatic scenes as Chennaiyin scored twice in stoppage time against Hyderabad FC in their previous game to register a famous win which looks to have given new hope to John Gregory and his men.

Importantly both of Chennaiyin’s main strikers, Andre Schembri and Nerijus Valskis, were the two goalscorers giving the coach a huge boost.

Speaking to the media ahead of the game Gregory said he was confident that the goals scored on Monday were likely the first of many.

“Andre and Valskis in particular, they score goals regularly on the training ground. They scored a lot in pre-season. So I never had doubts about their ability. I remember how it was me as a player when there were times a goal wouldn’t come. I just try and give them freedom and confidence and get them to try and relax. I never lost my belief in them”, said Gregory.

The win looks to have galvanized the side and the coach has hoped the effect of the win rubs off on his players.

“There has been more coverage in the local media, social media after the win. There have been so many tweets. When we came back to the hotel, the entire staff came out to congratulate us knowing that it was a big win for us. There have just been so many people reaching out. Hope my players see how much it means to the people here”, said the Englishman.

Asked what pleased him the most against Hyderabad, Gregory said his side’s willingness to go till the last mile.

“As long as the clock is running, there is always a chance and my players continued to play till the final whistle believing there was a chance. I was massively pleased by that.”

He termed their next opponents ‘dangerous’ and credited Josep Gombau’s side with playing some ‘good football’.

“We give the ball away, they’re going to hurt us. Josep has got his side playing some good football, they always have had that in them. So we need to make sure we don’t give them too many opportunities to hurt us.”

Will the Hyderabad result prove to be a tipping point?

For much of the game against Hyderabad, a familiar script played out for Chennaiyin – plenty of chances and opportunities in the opposition box, but with very little end product to show for.

And once they did get the breakthrough they let down their defensive guard to let a very poor Hyderabad side back in the game. Despite getting out of jail with the late winner the finishing will have to improve massively against an Odisha side who are likely to provide much tougher competition than Phil Brown’s men.

Lallianzuala Chhangte continues to be a source of frustration for the team as his positive inroads into the box are let down by his final ball.

One change that worked for Gregory was Masih Saighani playing the defensive midfield role instead of Dhanapal Ganesh. Saighani was able to provide what Chennaiyin had been missing from Ganesh with the right amount of screening and some better forward balls.

Odisha pose more threat upfront and Chennaiyin’s defence and Saighani will have to be on the top of their game.

The fans and coach will hope this is the result that turns the campaign around, but this was Chennaiyin’s first win since they beat Bengaluru FC last season, a run of 7 games without a win.

For Gregory and his men, failure to back up a win with another will scuttle whatever momentum they have garnered.