ISL 2017: "Referee's inconsistency cost us the match," says FC Pune City manager Ranko Popovic

FC Pune City were handed yet another home defeat, this time at the hands of league leaders Bengaluru FC. The away side claimed a 3-1 victory on Thursday's ISL 2017 game over the Stallions with Bengaluru FC completing a second-half comeback courtesy of a brace from Miku and with Sunil Chhetri adding the cherry on top with a stoppage-time goal.

The game turned out to be an affair of two halves with FC Pune City completely dominating the first half and scoring through Adil Khan, who got at the end of a brilliant move. But the marching orders to Baljit Sahni through two yellow cards changed the complexion of the game around the hour mark. Having a numerical advantage, Bengaluru FC got on the act and put Pune to the sword with three late goals.

Ranko Popovic was distraught by tonight's loss and slammed the referee for his decisions. "The official was not consistent with his decisions. The fouls which got my players a yellow card was not even given as a foul when committed by Bengaluru FC. A two-footed challenge happened in front of me (Udanta Singh on Diego Carlos) but the referee did not even give a free kick," reflected a frustrated Popovic.

Popovic also revealed that his players thought that they deserved a penalty in the final set piece of the game but the official instead gave a freekick against them. The Stallions boss demanded consistency from the officials as the Serbian also claimed that the referee influenced the game against his side.

Popovic also believed that his side was controlling the game until the red card happened and that the small details in positioning and attitude cost them the three points. The Stallions should have shut the stop after going a man down but after Bengaluru equalized, the home side were still looking for a winner. It left a lot of space open for the Bengaluru attackers to work upon which led to a clinical win for the away side.

Marcelino remained an unused substitute on the bench with his exclusion being a major talking point for Pune. But the manager later revealed that the Brazilian had fever two days back and hence wasn't 100% fit. Isaac Vanmalsawma twisted his ankle in the first half and had to be substituted with Popovic being unsure about the severity of the youngster's injury.

Meanwhile, the Blues' man in charge Albert Roca was pleased with another win on the road and described this victory as a hard fought one. He praised FC Pune City for being a difficult opponent and reflected that the refereeing decisions sometimes go in one's team favour and sometimes the other way.

Roca was also happy with the clinical approach shown by his side after Baljit Sahni's red card and claimed that his side dominated after getting a man's advantage. Bengaluru FC now face Chennaiyin FC at home on Sunday whereas FC Pune City are set for a nine-day rest before embarking on a tough away trip to Goa.