FC Goa deserved to win: Coyle reacts to Chennaiyin FC's defeat in Goa
Jan 26, 2025
Margao (Goa) [India], January 26 : Chennaiyin FC head coach Owen Coyle expressed his disappointment after they were defeated 2-0 by FC Goa in the Indian Super League (ISL) on Saturday.
The Gaurs were on the dominant side from the onset, controlling the tempo of the game. Spanish forward Iker Guarrotxena put the home side ahead in the 11th minute, with Aakash Sangwan doubling their lead in the 26th minute, scoring against his former club.
Chennaiyin FC had a few opportunities, with their best chance coming just before the break, but they failed to hit the target. Manolo Marquez's team held firm in the second half to secure all three points at home.
"In the first half, it's nowhere near good enough. FC Goa are a good side, with us contributing to gifting them goals (which made things easier), which we did. The first goal, obviously, was a comfortable take... I found ourselves one down, and even the second goal was so avoidable. So that gave us obviously a mountain to climb, try to change it at half-time, freshen things up. Obviously, much better in the second half, but it was far too much to do at that point," Coyle said during the post-match press conference as quoted by the ISL official website.
"I think that's a fair comment to say that we certainly gifted it (the goals), and yeah, there's no doubt that FC Goa deserved to win the game. For us, it was disappointing for sure because we came into the game having played well in the last game against Mohun Bagan SG. We should have won the previous two games. So yeah, it's disappointing for sure," Coyle continued further.
Following this defeat, the Marina Machans are now without a win in their last six matches, having drawn three of them. They sit 10th in the standings with 18 points from 18 matches and remain six points behind the playoff places.
Still, with four of their final six games at home, Coyle remains hopeful of capitalizing on their remaining fixtures and finishing the league campaign on a positive note.
"We have six games now, four at home and two away. As we did last year, (we) can turn that. (But) we certainly have to perform better than we did in the first half tonight, but we know these games are winnable for our best. So, we need to refresh, take the feeling, which is not particularly nice for everybody at the football club, and look to pick ourselves up and look to win a home game and a derby game against Kerala Blasters FC," Coyle commented.
