Chennaiyin FC head coach Owen Coyle was pleased with his team's 3-1 win against Kerala Blasters but was unhappy about the refereeing of the game.
In the 25th minute of the game, the referee wrongly awarded a free-kick to Chennaiyin after Anirudh Thapa fouled Seityasen Singh. The Blasters players and staff protested the decision after the hosts went on to score from that free-kick and the referee then chose to overturn his decision.
"Whether that freekick is given rightly or wrongly, once play restarts you cannot pull it back. That’s what the rule says. Jamshedpur had a handball goal against us and nothing happened.
"I thought (Eli) Sabia’s first yellow card was a bizarre yellow. If he is standing over the ball, you don’t generally send players off. You ask him to move back. Decisions like that bring negative attention to the team."
Coyle praised his players for their efforts and is expecting a tough game against FC Goa.
"We felt that Kerala are a very good side and have very good players. We utilised the spaces in behind them with Chhangte, Valskis etc. Everything we worked on the training ground worked. We wanted three points and we got three points. We have 4 points from two games and we have to ready ourselves for a tough game against Goa. We did it with style tonight. We should have had a penalty in the second half."
ISL media
Lallianzuala Chhangte has not been at his best since joining Chennaiyin in the summer but he showcased his quality today by scoring a goal and causing plenty of trouble on the right flank.
"I feel I can improve Chhangte. We have good Indian players and I want to help these players. That will improve the team. We have worked with Chhangte. But he deserves credit for what he has done. He does difficult things very easily. He penetrates defences very easily and my focus was to help him improve the final ball. He runs too much at that point and I wanted him to slow down and have some composure. He was outstanding tonight."
