Phoenix draw after contentious red card sends Payne packing in Palmy
WELLINGTON Phoenix coach Ufuk Talay has taken aim at the match officials following his team’s momentum-stalling 2-2 draw with Perth Glory in Palmerston North.
Talay believed the decision to send Tim Payne off yesterday was wrong and cost the Phoenix a fourth consecutive A-League Men win after the centre-back was controversially sent off while they were one goal up.
‘‘Again the outcome in my opinion was decided by the officials,’’ Talay lamented after the game at Central Energy
Trust Arena.
The Phoenix went into halftime with a 2-1 lead after strikers Oskar Zawada and
Kosta Barbarouses scored inside the first 20 minutes, with Polish import Zawada taking his season tally to seven after finding the back of the net for the fourth game in succession.
But the Phoenix were unable to hang on with 10 men after Payne was sent off for denying the Glory a goal-scoring opportunity in the 56th minute. Talay said it was a major turning point in the game.
Payne was initially shown a yellow card by referee Lachlan Keevers after running across David Williams as the Glory striker looked to receive a pass that could have put him through on goal.
However, the yellow was upgraded to red after Keevers was instructed by video assistant referee Alex King to take another look.
Glory coach Ruben Zadkovich reckoned the ‘‘clinical’’ Williams would have scored had he not been fouled by Payne despite the presence of Phoenix defenders Josh Laws and Callan Elliot.
Williams scored both of the Glory’s goals from powerful close-range headers, including the equalising goal with only 10 minutes left to play.
‘‘If he through and gets to the ball first, it’s a pretty clear goalscoring chance, so if it’s a foul it’s a red card,’’ Zadkovich said.
But Talay disagreed. ‘‘I tried to have a look again in the changing room and I thought he was never going to get to the ball and I think Cal Elliot is behind Payney as well and is there to deal with it,’’ Talay said.
‘‘The officials had a long look at it, it probably took three or four minutes to decide it was a red card, and I felt it was quite soft.’’
Adding to their misery, the Phoenix will now lose Payne to an automatic suspension for next Friday’s trip to the struggling Melbourne Victory, leaving them without their firstchoice centre-back pairing with Scott Wootton injured.
The Phoenix are in the market for a new defender but Talay said another option would be to promote someone from their academy to see them through the lean period.
‘‘We’ll have to look at that, what we’re going to do. I think we’re running out of central defenders.
Despite the draw, the Phoenix were able to move up to third on the ladder. However, they could drop as low as fifth depending on the outcome of other results.