Chennaiyin FC head coach Thomas Brdaric was glad with his team's performance and felt that they deserved more as his side settled for a point against Hyderabad FC in a 1-1 draw in the opening fixture of the Matchweek 15 in the Indian Super League (ISL) 2022-23 at the G.M.C Balayogi Athletic Stadium, in Hyderabad, on Thursday
The visitors broke the deadlock through a thumping header by Petar Sliskovic in the second half, but Bartholomew Ogbeche had other plans as he converted a crucial penalty late in the game to equalise and help his team secure a draw.
Hyderabad FC now sit one point behind the league leaders Mumbai City FC, who have a game in hand whereas Thomas Brdaric's men sit seventh in the league table with three points off the playoffs spot. Brdaric admired the terrific display of his players and expressed that the team is in the right atmosphere to fight for the playoffs.
"I'm absolutely proud with the performance of my team and it was one of the best performances of this season. Very stable, and concentrated, and we didn't give Hyderabad FC the opportunities. It's a pity that we just took one point, to take a point in an away match is good but we were the better team today. It's the game today that we played against a championship competitor, and we are fighting for the playoffs places. I think we played a pretty good team game today. The team was prepared and motivated, I feel sorry for the players that we got only a point from all the efforts," he said in the post-match press conference
Chennaiyin FC halted Manolo Marquez's men winning run of five matches while drawing their third match in the last four matches. Brdaric shed light on how the better team is not always the winner and the team deserved all the points today with their motivated performance.
"Till the 86th minute everything was fine, I didn't see any anxiety in the team. It's football and it's not necessary that the better team wins all the time but it's been a long time since we created chances, played good football but we didn't (get) rewarded with the three points. Yes, it's one point, we have something in our hands but today more was possible," he said.
It was the third time that left-back Aakash Sangwan and striker Petar Sliskovic combined for a goal. Sangwan has four assists to his name while Sliskovic grabbed his eighth goal of the season that puts him at the joint-top of the leading goalscorers chart alongside the likes of East Bengal FC's Cleiton Silva and Mumbai City FC's Jorge Diaz.
"I see a lot of positives, actions and combinations that means we are working. We are professionals, we want to succeed in a positive way. At the end of the day, I like Petar's (Sliskovic) performance, he provided us with the goal, with Aakash (Sangwan) at the end of the day it's his job to deliver good balls in the box. We work on these things in the training and generally, all of the guys deserved more and that's why I'm a little bit disappointed by how the game ended but overall, I'm proud," he concluded.
( With inputs from ANI )
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