ISL 2017: John Gregory - We wanted three points and we got it

Chennaiyin FC defeated FC Pune City 1-0 at the Balewadi Sports Complex, Pune on Sunday in an Indian Super League (ISL) clash. Henrique Sereno scored the only goal of the match in the 81st minute to confirm full points for the Chennai side.

John Gregory's men were not at their best against Pune but managed to snap three crucial points from their first away game. On asked if they were lucky to get the three points, the coach said, "We wanted three points and we got it."

Gregory further stated that they would have been happy with a point as well. Interestingly, he mentioned that the gap of 10 days between their last match and the one against Pune didn't help their cause.

"Yes, I guess we were not that good today. That’s probably the worst we played over the course of the full game. We haven’t played for 10 days. You could say that when you are playing regularly, you just go out and react to what’s going around. If you are on a good run it's quite easy for you just go out there and pick from where you left in the last game. Unfortunately we haven’t played for the last 10 days and it took us a little while to find some rhythm.

"The goal was worthy of winning the game. It was a great ball in from Gavilan and then Henrique's (Sereno) goal was reminiscent of the final last year. It wasn’t the greatest spectacle. We are looking forward to the game on Thursday," said Gregory.

Both Chennaiyin and Pune have been amongst goals this season however, only one was scored on Sunday. The Chennaiyin boss explained, "I think the pitch was a little bit heavy. The ball didn’t move enough on the pitch. I have many young boys in my team. If not by age, they are young in terms of experience. I have two boys in central midfield who have just played a handful of games. One guy (Germanpreet Singh) made his debut last week in ISL. We got little Jerry (Lalrinzuala) who is just a kid. It is possibly intimidating for them to play in the ISL. But they will learn. We are happy to go home with three points."

On Jeje Lalpekhlua's performance, Gregory mentioned, "This is probably his best game in the season so far. He was on his own, he fought for the ball. We possibly didn’t give him the best service. But you know he had this record of scoring against Pune. He didn’t manage to do it tonight but he worked very hard today."