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The man from Malta, Andre Schembri, turned out to be the hero on Monday night for his club Chennaiyin FC. In what was a chaotic finish to the game, Schembri scored one and assisted another as his side scored two goals in stoppage time to emerge victorious against Hyderabad FC 2-1 and register their first win in this season's Indian Super League.
The opener by Schembri was also the club's first goal of the season after four games. The Maltese came on as a substitute in the 82nd minute replacing Brazilian Rafael Crivellaro as coach John Gregory opted to go with two frontmen to get that elusive goal.
For his goal, Schembri brought down an overhit cross before firing past Hyderabad custodian Kamaljit Singh from a tight angle and for the second he turned provider, chesting down a pass from Anirudh Thapa before providing the perfect through ball to his strike partner Nerijus Valskis.
About 30 minutes after those euphoric scenes, Schembri spoke about what had just transpired. Asked about his goal Schembri said,
"I was close to the goal and I knew that the keeper thought I was going to take a shot to his left, so I shot on the other side. Very happy with the win because we needed the 3 points."
Despite conceding an equalizer within a minute of his goal, Schembri felt when he got the ball from Thapa there was still a chance.
"To be honest I thought we could score again because we were playing two up front. Knew that if we got a good long ball, we could do something. And when I saw the ball coming I felt something was going to happen. We played a 1-2 and Nerka (Valskis) came through with the goal which was nice."
After scoring his goal, Schembri took off his shirt and ran towards the fans in scenes of wild celebration. He said that the win was the perfect reward for everybody who had supported the club during this tough run.
"This win means a lot. The fans have been supporting us throughout. Also we have a great team, not just the management and coaches, but also the backroom staff who have been just giving us so much support. It's us players who have not been able to get the results on the pitch, so this was a big win dedicated to all of them", said Schembri.
Chennaiyin FC play again on Thursday when they entertain Odisha FC and the forward said it was important to move on and get more wins and not get caught up in the celebrations of Monday's dramatic win.
"Today is just the first win, we need to get many more wins. This game is now over and done, we cannot be stuck looking back at this win. It will not matter if we don't win the next game", he added before signing off for the night.
