ISL 2018-19: Jorge Costa lauds his Mumbai City players' courage and effort after away win over Chennaiyin FC

Mumbai City FC picked up a 1-0 win at Chennaiyin FC on Saturday evening to make their way up the standings to 10 points after six games. In doing so they picked up their first road win of the season and dealt another blow to champions Chennaiyin who are enduring a horror campaign and are still winless.

The decisive goal of the game came in the first half from Mumbai City striker Modou Sougou. The striker saw his initial shot parried by Chennaiyin keeper Karanjit Singh only for it to fall right back in his path and he made no mistake the second time. The goal came in the 20th minute and Mumbai City managed to keep their hosts at bay for the remaining 70 minutes to pick up a clean sheet and a win.

Speaking after the game, Mumbai City head coach Jorge Costa was in a sombre mood. He revealed that it had been a difficult night emotionally for his players as a result of a personal tragedy that befell one of his players.

"I cannot be happy because my players are not happy," opened Costa. "Milan had bad news. His brother died before the game. But despite this great loss he wanted to play. So we must respect what he did and we dedicate this win to him."

Speaking about the game, Costa felt his side controlled the game well in both halves.

"We had a good first half we created chances from the possession we had. Chennai didn't have one chance in the first half," said Costa.

He added: "In the second half as we were 1-0 up, they put us to defend and I thought we did that well too. Yes, they hit the post once, but apart from that we gave them no big chances. We controlled the game even without the ball.

"So yes, congratulations to my players. We go back home with 3 points."

With the win, Mumbai City are up to fifth in the table. They are actually level with four other teams on 10 points, but are fifth on goal difference. Asked if he felt this was a good position to be in, Costa replied in the affirmative.

"Six games 10 points. If we continue we get 30 points. Last year it was enough. Hopefully, we can reach the mark," Costa said.

"We're on the right track. We have 12 games to play with a break in between, but we are far from perfect. We have lot of work to do," concluded Costa.