Dramas sour Roar loss
BRISBANE coach John Aloisi was left confused by the video assistant referee system after believing the Roar were robbed of a fair goal in their 2- 1 loss to the Newcastle Jets at Suncorp Stadium yesterday.
The Roar remain rock bottom of the A- League ladder with no points after their thirdstraight loss of the season.
But while the Jets are unbeaten with two wins and a draw, they were in anything but a celebratory mood last night after a sickening injury to star import Ronald Vargas.
Vargas is understood to have broken two bones in his leg and dislocated his ankle when he and Roar skipper Matt McKay challenged for the ball in the 58th minute.
Emotional Jets coach Ernie Merrick said his side’s win – which came via first- half goals to the in- form Roy O’Donovan and ex- Roar midfielder Dimitri Petratos, who netted a cracker – meant nothing.
“We’d have given it away for no injury to Ronny,” Merrick said. “He was just loving life in Newcastle … I guess he’ll be under surgery tonight.”
Aloisi said McKay was distraught following the incident.
“To see it and be right next to it … we all know there was nothing in the tackle, hard,” Aloisi said.
“We just wish ( Vargas) a good recovery and hopefully we get to see him play again because he’s a quality player.”
Both Aloisi and Merrick felt the Roar, who scored in the first half via a comical own goal from Jets defender Nigel Boogaard, deserved something out of the game after their second- half performance.
And it seemed they were on track for at least a point when Italian striker Massimo Maccarone put the ball in the back of the net in the 70th minute.
However, to the disgust of the crowd of 10,104, video assistant referee Peter Green ruled Maccarone was in an offside position in receiving a pass earlier in the build- up. Referee Matthew Conger agreed. it was
“The rule as I interpret is … if the ball’s going forward and then it’s attacking, then it’s the final bit of the phase you can come back and call it offside if it’s offside,” Aloisi said.
“( Maccarone) plays it backwards, it’s not forward anymore, it’s not going in on goal.
“If that’s what we’re going to turn to, to go back three phases to disallow a goal, then we’ve got a serious issue. The VAR’s got a problem.”
Despite Brisbane’s poor form, Aloisi was adamant the Roar would soon string together a run of good results.
Frenchman Eric Bautheac showed promise in his ALeague debut. The former Lille winger played the first half before tiring and being replaced at the start of the second half by Peter Skapetis.