ISL 2022-23: One of the best performances of the season – Chennaiyin FC’s Thomas Brdaric

Chennaiyin FC head coach Thomas Brdaric was delighted with the performance of his team after they shared the spoils against defending champions Hyderabad FC at the G.M.C. Balayogi Athletic Stadium, Hyderabad on Thursday.

The match ended in a 1-1 draw and Brdaric feels it was one of the best performances of the season from them. However, the head coach believes the team deserved more than a point out of the match.

The Marina Machans looked all set to clinch three points after Sliskovic scored in the 57th minute. However, Bartholomew Ogbeche scored from the penalty spot in the 87th minute to help his team share a point.

“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 playoff 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,” Thomas Brdaric said in the post-match press conference.

The visitors took two shots on target and had 51% of the possession. The gaffer feels his team deserved more from the game as they were in control of the matc.

“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.

The team’s head coach added there were a lot of positives for the team and feels Petar Sliskovic’s performance was impressive.

“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.

Chennaiyin FC will next face ATK Mohun Bagan on 21st January at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, Chennai.