ISL 2020-21: Antonio Lopez Habas credits ATK Mohun Bagan's discipline following win over Chennaiyin FC

ATK Mohun Bagan stays on second in the Indian Super League 2020-21 table, while Chennaiyin FC remains sixth. Both the sides have been playing the tournament since 2014 and are former champions, with ATK winning it on three occasions, before MB merger.

Antonio Lopez Habas credits ATK Mohun Bagan's discipline following win over Chennaiyin FC-ayh

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Bengaluru, First Published Jan 22, 2021, 11:42 AM IST | Last Updated Jan 22, 2021, 11:44 AM IST

ATK Mohun Bagan came up with a classical performance to edge past and steal one from Chennaiyin FC. The former won 1-0 in the 2020-21 Indian Super League, at the Fatroda Stadium in Bengaluru, on Thursday.

It was the lone strike from David Williams in the 90th-minute that sealed the deal. With this win, ATKMB stays second, while Chennaiyin remains at sixth.

Following the win, ATKMB manager, Antonio Lopez Habas credited the side's discipline to pull off a thriller. "You can play well, but important thing is the win. My team was disciplined. Maybe in first half, we played well, but then, we made too many mistakes with passes. What was important was that we believed in victory until the end. We didn't play a fantastic match."

"This season we have many players but also injuries. After that, we can control the first XI with fit players. No time for recovery and there is humidity to contend with. But, this is the nature of this season with Covid-19," he added.

ALSO READ: David Williams' late strike hands ATK Mohun Bagan victory over Chennaiyin FC

"We are trying to give more possibility to attack and not just one. You have train every day. In the first 45 minutes we played well, but too many mistakes in the second probably because of pressure to score," he asserted.

Furthermore, Chennaiyin defender, Enes Sipovic credited ATKMB's winning mentality by saying, "Again (we conceded from) a set-piece. Even if they play bad, they win, that's winning mentality. I believe we didn't deserve to lose. They had one chance with the freekick. We didn't have many chances. My chance in the 90th minute was big, that's it. We don't have time to think about this game. We have to think about Mumbai City and find motivation from within. We need to put more heart into it."

Meanwhile, Chennaiyin head coach, Csaba Laszlo believed that his side deserved a draw. "This is the same feeling for me too (as Sipovic). We managed the game well. It was not an easy game. The team deserved minimum one point. I don't think it was necessary to play the ball into the corner. We just slipped in the one corner when we defended well from other set pieces. I am so sorry for the team because they worked very hard. We did not have many chances. ATKMB had one chance. Unfortunately, we lost. Look, we tried to go back and change everything, in our last games we did not get (concede) any goals from set-pieces. Unfortunately, we can't defend well at set-pieces We must be careful and we trained for this. I hope this is now finished with us conceding from set-pieces," he said.

"Isma is fit for 60 minutes set-pieces had an injury. We lost Rafa and Thapa. I need to complement the team because they tried hard. Isma and Sylvestr, we might play them together again. We don't have many fit players in that position. If you want to win games, I am waiting for my strikers to score goals. This game both team managed it well, but we lost at the end of the day," added Laszlo.

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