VAR farce ruins Krishna’s record night
Two records were broken at Westpac Stadium yesterday.
One was objective: Roy Krishna breaking Paul Ifill’s Phoenix goalscoring record when scoring his 34th for the club in the 44th minute of his side’s 1-1 draw against Perth Glory.
The second was subjective: the Video Assistant Referee set a new low for the most farcical intervention in A-League history.
Nick Waldron’s decision to refer on-field referee Adam Kersey to replays of a Ryan Lowry challenge in the 75th minute was matched in absurdity only by Kersey’s decision to then send off Lowry.
Lowry made a sliding challenge which saw him slide past one of his players before his studs collected the ankle of a Perth player. You would put it in the clumsy category. Freekick perhaps, yellow card at a stretch. Red card? Never.
Down to 10 men, the Phoenix conceded an 82nd-minute equaliser from substitute Diego Castro – the man Lowry had been brought on to man-mark.
The result was tough to take for the 4829 Phoenix fans in attendance.
Their side had dominated the contest, having 14 shots to Perth’s four. They were well on top in the first half and should have opened the scoring via Nathan Burns in the 10th minute.
Louis Fenton tackled one of the Perth centrebacks, with the ricochet sending Burns clear on goal, but the former Johnny Warren Medal winner’s scuffed leftfoot shot was every bit that of a man who had not scored in 1785 minutes in Phoenix colours as it tamely rolled wide.
Six minutes later there was a scary moment as Phoenix goalkeeper Filip Kurto collided with Glory striker Andy Keogh.
Kurto came charging off his line as Keogh chased down a long ball. He went down to win the ball and his head hit Keogh’s hip. He stayed down and had to be stretchered off, replaced by Oliver Sail, who would not have a save to make as the Phoenix controlled the rest of the half.
Burns had another, tougher, chance to score in the 40th minute when being played through into the right side of the box by a great pass from Sapreet Singh. His shot was too close to Reddy, who made a decent one-handed save low to his right.
Krishan opened the scoring just before halftime. Burns tried to play a pass through, which was cut out by Perth defender Tomislav Mrcela, but the ball fell to Krishna, who dispatched his finish to the right of Reddy.
It was a strangely lacklustre first half from Perth.
They had just one off-target shot to the Phoenix’s eight and their passing percentage sat at 62 per cent to the Phoenix’s 81.
Perth started to find their passing groove in the second half and brought on influential midfielder Castro in the 64th minute. It took just four minutes for him to make an impact as he weaved into space in the box, but Phoenix skipper Andrew Durante nipped in to prevent his shot.
Phoenix coach Mark Rudan made an interesting change in the 71st minute, bringing on nominal centre back Lowry for defensive midfielder Alex Rufer. But Lowry lasted just four minutes after that horror decision from Waldron and Kersey.
Rudan brought Reuben Way on for Burns to fill the Lowry role in the 79th minute, but he couldn’t stop Castro scoring in the 82nd, slamming home a low cross from Chris Ikonomidis.
Perth looked the more likely to break the deadlock late on, but the Phoenix held on for a point.