A-League officials can expect a 'please explain' request from Wellington Phoenix, after a controversial referee decision helped end their 13-match unbeaten streak in the competition.
The capital side has fallen to a 2-0 defeat against Western Sydney Wanderers at Wollongong - a result that hinged on a contentious second-half goal from former Phoenix striker Tomer Hemed.
Chasing a Wanderers free-kick, the Israeli striker felled defender Callan Elliot, who tumbled into goalkeeper Oli Sail, leaving an open goal for Hemed to score unopposed.
Referee Stephen Lucas sent the incident to video review, but seemed to focus on possible offside and James McGarry's attempt to clear the ball off the goal-line - not the collision between Hemed and Elliot. The goal was duly awarded.
Coach Ufuk Talay made his protests known after the match and Phoenix general manager David Dome has confirmed he intends taking the matter to higher authorities.
"We will be writing to head of referees Nathan Magill re a push on Callan Elliot and a handball in the lead-up to the disallowed goal in WELvWSW," Dome tweets.
Regardless of how strong their case, the Phoenix are unlikely to have the result overturned - the best they can hope for is some favourable consideration in the future and perhaps some repercussions for the officialling team.
"The key thing we're looking for is some understanding of the process and how it's been looked at," says operations manager Shaun Gill. "Obviously, there's an incident where they've scored the goal... we want to understand the process that the referee and VAR went through, and what happened before that.
"We'll probably get an apology, from the footage we've seen and everyone else in the world is seeing. At the end of the day, that doesn't mean a lot."
Gill insists, if the earlier handball was upheld, Phoenix would have had a penalty shot, with Wanderers down to 10 men and the whole complexion of the contest changes.
Talay was scathing in his post-game analysis.
"In my opinion, a poor decision in refereeing - a foul on Callan Elliot inside the box - led to the goal," Talay said afterwards. "It's disappointing, because I thought we were the better team overall for 90 minutes.
"I think they were probably looking at if it crossed the line and they were probably looking at if it was offside, so in my opinion they may have missed a push on Cal Elliot.
"There are mistakes within the game, players make a thousand mistakes within the game, but I think the officials can't get it wrong."
Skipper Alex Rufer admits his team are disappointed with the result and the manner it occurred.
"To be honest, at the time, I didn't actually see too much," he says. "Obviously, I've seen it now and, in my opinion, it was a foul, but at the end of the day, the refs make the final call and we have to get on with it.
"I don't like to talk about the referees too often - we just have to move on and worry about what we can control.
"The most important thing is the next game and we have to move as quickly as possible."
Already one goal down, the Phoenix were forced to throw caution to the wind and conceded the second goal as they chased a draw. Sail left his goal for a late attacking corner and was unable to recover his ground to prevent a Wanderers breakout, slotted home by defender Johnny Koutroumbis.
The winning streak extended back into the 2020/21 season, which saw the Phoenix finish strongly with six wins and five draws, before narrowly missing the top-six playoffs. They began the current campaign with a draw against Macarthur FC and victory over Central Coast Mariners.
