Cabello: We Didn't Deserve to Lose, 2:3 Is Not a Fair Result
Istra 1961 coach disappointed with refereeing decisions and believes his young team deserved more against Lokomotiva
Istra 1961 coach disappointed with refereeing decisions and believes his young team deserved more against Lokomotiva
Istra 1961 suffered their 12th defeat in the opening round of the league in the club's history, losing 2:3 to Lokomotiva at the Drosina stadium on Saturday. However, the impressions from the pitch tell a completely different story than what the final score suggests. The Pula side put in one of their best performances in recent times, which was recognized by the two thousand fans who applauded the players off the pitch.
Coach Javier Cabello did not hide his disappointment after the match. "Of course we are disappointed with the final result, because given everything we showed on the pitch, we didn't deserve to lose this match," he told Glas Istre. "We played well, our young team did a really good job, and the match could easily have gone in a completely different direction. We could have won it, and the final 2:3 is definitely not a fair result."
What is even more impressive is the fact that Istra 1961 took to the pitch with a starting lineup whose average age was exactly 21. Had Raul Kumar not come down with a high fever the day before the match and given his place to Samuli Miettinen, that figure would have dropped to 20.6 years. Despite their youth, the team displayed a mature performance that deserved at least a point.
For the record, the Yellow-Greens have only won twice in their history in the season opener at home, against Slaven Belupo in the 2015/2016 season and against Hrvatski dragovoljac in the 2021/2022 season, both times by the identical score of 3:1. They have drawn eight times, and this was their 12th defeat in the first round.
According to Glas Istre, the final outcome was influenced by controversial refereeing decisions, both by the main referee on the pitch and his colleagues in the VAR room, as well as Lady Fortune, who is partly to blame for the fact that an excellent performance was not adequately rewarded. The fans and the coaching staff feel that the officials' decisions had a decisive impact on the course of the match, recalling earlier times when the "Lokosi" regularly had the advantage of at least one extra player in their head-to-head encounters.
Despite the defeat, optimism in the Pula camp remains high. Given the summer activities of the owners from Vitoria and the fans' fears of a poor start to the season, with reminders of heavy defeats against Dinamo (1:7 in the 2009/2010 season and 0:5 in the 2024/2025 season) and Hajduk (1:6 in the 2010/2011 season), the performance shown gives hope that this season could be different.
