John Gregory woes’ continued to spill over. The Chennaiyin FC head coach’s forwardline hasn’t been up to the mark, to put it mildly.
The 1-0 loss to ATK in the Indian Super League at the Nehru Stadium here on Wednesday amply underscored the host’s lack of intensity and ideas upfront. It continues to remain at one point from three matches. On the other hand, ATK has seven from three and has moved to the top of the table.
David Williams scored what turned out to be the winner in the second half. The Australian pushed one home after Javier Hernandez’s shot found the foot of Chennaiyin defender Lucian Goian only to deflect and go straight to Williams, who was spot on with his strike.
Wasted opportunities
The second half saw Chennaiyin creating more opportunities, but was unable to make them count.
After conceding a goal, Gregory, in a bid to add more bite to the attack, replaced midfielder Dragos Firtulescu with forward Andre Schembri. There weren’t any tangible benefits arising out of the move.
Credit to ATK’s defence that was led adroitly by Anas Edathodika. The back four nipped a lot of promising moves of Chennaiyin in the bud. Surprisingly, the much-feared strikers like Roy Krishna and Williams weren’t as effective as one expected them to be as the host’s defence kept the two largely in check.
One good chance
The only good chance that Chennaiyin had in the first half was when Nerijus Valskis’ header off a cross by Rafael Crivellaro went over the post. In fact, the first five-odd minutes were very positive for the host as it raided ATK’s defence with impunity.
Chennaiyin’s new signing Lallianzuala Chhangte was off-colour by his standards. The left-winger was quick no doubt, his decision as to when to pass and when to strike went awfully wrong on the day.
There was one change in the starting XI for both the teams from its earlier match. While Valskis came in place of Schembri upfront for the host, Pronay Halder replaced Jayesh Rane for the visitor.
The result: Chennaiyin FC 0 lost to ATK 1 (David Williams 48).
