ISL 2019 | Head Coach Nelo Vingada heaps praise on team's ‘deserved’ victory

ISL 2019 | Head Coach Nelo Vingada heaps praise on team's ‘deserved’ victory

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Newly appointed coach Nelo Vingada has praised his players after they finally ended their 14-match winless ISL streak on Friday with an impressive 3-0 victory over rivals Chennaiyin FC, at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in Kochi. Interestingly, It was Kerala’s first home triumph in 384 days.

Kerala’s last win in the league came way back in September 29, 2018, when they beat ATK 2-0 in the opening match of the season. Since then, David James couldn't manage to take his to win any other game until he was sacked in December. Under Vingada, the Blasters started with a draw against high-flying Bengaluru FC before beating the struggling Marina Machans 3-0.

"First my words are for the players. For a long time, the team, the club, the city and especially the players deserved to have a day like today. It was a good game, we had good chances and we controlled the game. We could see that our team was very compact and showed good organisation. After the game against Bengaluru FC, the confidence was up. It was a night of happiness for me to see how the fans and the players were together at the end of the game," Head coach Nelo Vingada was quoted as sharing his thoughts at the post-match press conference.

While Kerala did really play well and the scoreline reflected it too, one cannot deny the fact that their second goal was in many ways questioned their sportsman spirit as the players decided to keep attacking even after Chennaiyin's injured Christopher Herd went down in pain. Vingada didn't wish to delve any deeper into it deciding to focus on positives. 

"Look, what I saw was that our midfielders got the ball and immediately started a very quick counter-attack and one of the Chennaiyin defenders was down. But our win was perfect and correct. We created more chances and we attacked more. So, let us see the positives of the game," he said.

Chennaiyin FC Head coach John Gregory cut across a disappointed figure at the presser as he lamented his side’s poor display during the match and also pointed at the lack of experience in the squad as a reason for the inconsistency.

"The performance sums up our season. We beat the team at the top of the league and then we go and lose to a team that is ninth in the table. We have had a lack of consistency with our performances. Last week was outstanding from everybody. Tonight, it was the opposite. It was a bad team display along with bad individual performances and Kerala took full advantage," he noted.

"Obviously, some of the young boys have only played a handful of Hero ISL games. Sometimes they play well one week and are disappointing in the next. They will learn from tonight’s performance, but it comes with a cost," he said.

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