VAR and controversial decisions by match officials again dominated proceedings as ten-man Western United held on heroically for a point in a goalless draw with Adelaide United at Coopers Stadium.
After having Victor Sanchez expelled in the 35th minute for a second bookable offence on Friday night, Western thought they’d pinched an unlikely winner on 78 minutes.
Dylan Pierias found the net after racing onto a delightful through ball from Alessandro Diamanti, only for it to be ruled out for offside by VAR with replays indicating it was a matter of millimetres.
Western United coach Mark Rudan highlighted inconsistencies with the technology used in the replay and the drawn lines to determine if any part of Pierias’s body was ahead of his opponent when the ball was played.
“What constitutes an offside, I have no idea,” he said.
(Daniel Pockett/Getty Images)
“When I saw the line that they chose, Ryan Strain was from his chest… and Dylan was at the largest or the highest point (his shoulder), the worst point for it to be offside.
“For me, there’s inconsistencies there. If you’re going to do it, do it both from their shoulder, which was the farthest point away – and then he’s onside.
“That’s one issue I’ve got. The other issue is the thickness of the line. I think the line should be made thicker which gives the advantage to the attacking team. We’re talking about millimetres here.”
Western also had a goal ruled out in the first half when Tomi Uskok got on the end of a Diamanti free kick, setting up Besart Berisha for a tap in.
The goal was eventually chalked off with officials judging the ball had ricocheted off the arm of Uskok.
Rudan also questioned a number of decisions by the match officials, including the involvement of the fourth official who alerted referee Chris Beath to the infringement by Sanchez which resulted in the second yellow card.
When asked if he felt his side were robbed, Rudan agreed.
“From the second yellow card send off, to the accidental hand ball that led to a goal,” he said.
“To what I thought was a fantastic run and an even better ball by Diamanti that was ruled offside.
“Where does it end?
“We got robbed, it’s a simple as that and I’ll use your words, they’re not mine.”
Adelaide coach Carl Veart echoed Rudan’s sentiments and said the flurry of five first-half yellow cards from Chris Beath were questionable and set the tone for the match.
“In my opinion, all those yellow cards in the first half, there was hardly anything in them,” he said.
“And once you start giving silly yellow cards like that, you just make it very difficult for yourself.
“I think he lost control and that’s what happens.”
TheSecretScout
Roar Guru
Condoning what? He ran into the player, there is no way any player would physically be able to stay on there feet in that motion; regardless if he was looking for it or not
Winter A League is Awesome
Guest
Lol
Winter A League is Awesome
Guest
That's a good point
Winter A League us Awesome
Guest
It seems like Rudan is always robbed everything they loose. At the City v WU game at AAMI WU had a banner saying More Heart than You Ever Did. Next minute they do the lowest turn out at a game in A League Histroy. Maybe the club should check their egos and wait to achieve something.
Tekkers
Roar Rookie
lol, love it
338
Roar Rookie
So you are happy to condone it ? Weird. I didn't say he was a bad midfielder. Just hope he doesn't continue diving when representing his country if he does get picked.
coolncold
Roar Rookie
At the end of the season, Diamanti should be awarded "The Goodwill Ambassador" because he always smiles. While Mauk should be awarded "The King of Simulation".
Nuxman
Roar Rookie
GOod point about targeting players!When a team is constantly and blatantly doing this week after week they can hardly complain about being picked on by refs who will naturally be looking for this behavior!Clean your act up guys and then complain!!!
Lionheart
Roar Rookie
What I found telling with Darrigo was that he was pushed in the back, not much of a push but a push, he went down rather softly, landed on his back, looked up and saw Sanchez and immediately grabbed at his head, overstating the incident. The head? I thought the push was a foul, but not a card. Darrigo should have been cautioned about simulation or sent to the sideline for a head injury, missing up to 12 weeks if we take medical advice, to avoid permanent damage. As much as I like Mauk, he needs to be called for simulation. He tried it at Roar, so obvious, bad for the game.
Chopper
Guest
AA, Mauk is going to the Olympics in the diving team.
TheSecretScout
Roar Guru
I'm sure he's deceiving arnie then isn't he? He's a certain inclusion in the socceroos squad based on his stats alone this season (goals and assists) he's statistically the best midfielder in the comp
338
Roar Rookie
Attempting to deceive…. punishable by a yellow card. That’s what he was doing. It was so obvious that nobody fouled him that rolling around would have just made everyone laugh at him. Sadly for him this season Mauk and Diving are becoming synonymous rather than him getting recognised outside the Adelaide fanbase for other positive aspects of his game.
TheSecretScout
Roar Guru
For both coaches to say that about the referreing shows you what sort of match the officiating team had. I had watched the replay at 2:00am this morning and both their goals correctly disallowed and the commentary on both was shockingly biased. (That was up there with Archie thompson levels of bias, will be glad to get rid of foxtel and hopefully all of there useless commentary team and presenters) Every time that’s a handball at every level of football. And VAR is VAR, either use it and accept it or don’t, but if it was Adelaide they’d just say it was close but correctly ruled offside. As for mauk, did he go looking for the penalty? Yes, but you cant card him for diving/simulation because it wasn’t. His momentum took him straight into the player, no ref is going to card a player for that; he didn’t roll around either The 2 yellows were justified in my book as well, yellow cards any day of the week. Western United were targeting players like they always do, when you do that you are always on the end of ref’s calls. Tactical fouling is one of the worst things about the sport
Brainstrust
Roar Rookie
The legacy Isaias left has been the acting, amazing red card with a push to the shoulder through sensational over acting by Dorrigo. Juande is sleepy whereas Caletti is energetic and has good movement they would have scored at least one goal with Caletti on the field.
Waz
Roar Rookie
I thought the Red to Sanchez was very harsh, a definite foul but the Adelaide player made a meal of it and the Ref ate it up. But, it was a dumb challenge and you roll the dice every time you do that. The VAR offside goal is unfortunately offside every day of the week with the way we’ve deployed the technology. It’s not controversial - Adelaide were “saved” but roles reversed and Adelaide lose that goal. I heard the comments the Dutch have “thickened” that line to allow for a margin of error - that’s the common sense we need. Plus Mauk should have been given a yellow for simulation - it’s the worst part of his game. 0-0 though and an exciting game to watch
Coastyboi
Guest
For the addition of more goals & a longer highlights reel, the attacking team ideally should be given the benefit of the doubt. Rudan is not everyone’s cup of tea, but, he can hold his head high, knowing WU were cheated.
338
Roar Rookie
I agree Western were very unlucky to have that second goal chalked off. I also thought the send off for Western was over the top and the 4th official was suckered by theatrics, and of course Mauk is the new Daniel Arzani the way he hurls himself to the ground whenever he can trying to milk penalties which is a stain on the club and the game. Shame he wasn't shown a card for that effort. Maybe it's time the coach had a word in his ear and told him to cut it out - it's not a good look.