Tony Popovic, the head coach of Melbourne Victory, has stated that his team will be contacting Football Australia to request an explanation after several calls he believes went against his team during their 1-0 home loss to Central Coast Mariners.
The host team ended the match with nine men when Roderick Miranda and Jordi Valadon were sent off, making it a memorable encounter that saw Central Coast record their first-ever away victory against Victory at AAMI Park.
“Look, we’ll definitely look for clarification on all the decisions,” a displeased Popovic stated during the press conference held after the game.
“You know, it hasn’t gone our way the few times we’ve had him recently. He’s a young, up-and-coming referee.”
Late in the game, Ronald Barcellos, a substitute for the Mariners, was also dismissed after a VAR review raised his yellow card to a red one for a rough tackle on Connor Chapman.
But Popovic was especially critical of an incident that occurred in the 64th minute of the game at full time because he felt that Central Coast striker Angel Torres ought to have been sent off after a run-in with Chapman.
In reference to the flashpoint, Popovic stated, “They reviewed it and they deemed it not to be a red.”
“We had a similar one with Jason Geria clashing, well, challenging for a ball (against Melbourne City). It’s a head clash but he got a yellow card so it was a little bit surprising that. Maybe they deemed that a similar challenge…”
Next up on Popovic’s list of grievances from the game was referee Tim Danaskos’ decision to dish out a straight red card to substitute Jordi Valadon for the denial of a clear goalscoring opportunity.
“That one’s a tough one for me to understand because Jordi is not the last man,” said the Victory head coach.
“I saw it live and he wasn’t the last man, I didn’t even think it was a foul and the ref didn’t give it as a foul.
“The surprising part for me is that he went to look at VAR and deemed that as last man but Jason Geria is clearly the last man.
He continued: “Had he not looked at it, okay you can make a decision, but once he reviewed it, I’m really surprised that he gave that.”
The defeat at AAMI Park leaves Victory sat in third spot on the ladder, now three points behind Mark Jackson’s Mariners in second and six behind league leaders Wellington Phoenix.
Furthermore, defeat was Victory’s second in the space of four games and they will now be without skipper Roderick Miranda for Sunday’s trip to Queensland when they take on Brisbane Roar.
