Chennaiyin head coach John Gregory believes the AFC Cup jitters held his team back on the field against Minerva Punjab in their group game on Wednesday.
The Indian teams played out a drab draw in which Chennaiyin failed to convert the few chances they had created.
"It was a game we should have won. We had enough of the ball, particularly in the second half. There was a little bit of nervousness in our game. It is a big stage - the AFC Cup. We were not relaxed as we were in the earlier matches. It wasn't a great team performance but at the end of the day, I will look at it like we didn't concede a goal. We looked very strong defensively. We should have scored though. But we got one point at the end. We have to make sure we win the next five now," Gregory said.
He further added, "I'd like to think we got a tough game out of way. Playing a team of Minerva's quality was hard in the very first game. We've been playing much much better and like I said, we should have made the goalkeeper work a lot more. We are disappointed that we did not win the match. We will have to go to Minerva and play them in Bhubaneshwar. But the Kalinga stadium is more like home to us at the moment."
In his analysis of Chennaiyin's performance, John Gregory noted that his team lacked quality on the ball. "We gave the ball away far too many times. We gave the ball away a lot of times. It was extremely frustrating for us. There needs to be more quality when in possession of the ball.
"Players you expect to keep the ball have given it away and that was hard for us. It got better in the second half. We didn't make their goalkeeper work. We did not deliver good set-pieces. It's been a frustrating night in many aspects. We've got five more cup finals to play, so to speak."
Dhanpal Ganesh returned from a long layoff and featured in the last few games for Chennaiyin. He was brought on in place of Thoi Singh with less than ten minutes on the clock. Young midfielder Anirudh Thapa was another played to not feature in the first eleven.
"Ganesh is always likely to do something in at the attacking end. He was brought on to push Raphael further up the pitch. His talent means we need him more up front. He can create goals
"With Anirudh Thapa, we are trying to look after him a bit. We have the Super Cup and AFC Cup now. Thapa's been overworked in the last month or so. He always has an impact and picks up the tempo. He did it again tonight. Sometimes it's good to have someone like him coming on as a sub. He is always likely to create a goal. The bench is looking strong. We have players who can come on and change games. I feel very fortunate to have such a strong squad at the moment.
"Minerva defended very well. They had a lot of numbers in their defensive half and raised their game against us. They were really really fired up. They wanted to pit the I-League against the ISL and it told in their performance and attitude. They fought hard and we expected that."