The Wellington Phoenix's 13-match unbeaten run in the A-League men's competition has come to an end in controversial fashion.
Wellington Phoenix captain Alex Rufer talks with the referee. Photo: PHOTOSPORT
The Western Sydney Wanderers beat the Phoenix 2-0 in Wollongong, scoring two second-half goals after former Phoenix forward Tomer Hemed broke the deadlock in the 67th minute.
The Video Assistant Referee checked to see if Hemed's shot had crossed the line before James McGarry was able to clear the ball, but did not pick up a potential foul on Phoenix defender Callan Elliot.
Wanderers defender John Koutroumbis rubbed salt into the wound by scoring the Wanderer's second deep into second-half stoppage time when the Phoenix were pressing for an equaliser.
Phoenix head coach Ufuk Talay said it was a tough result to take.
"In my opinion a poor decision in refereeing, a foul on Callan Elliot inside the box, led to the [first] goal," Talay said.
"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."
He said they will consider making a complaint to league bosses.
"That's a decision and a conversation that we need to have with the club and the board.
"There are mistakes within the game, players make a thousand mistakes within the game but I think in my opinion the officials can't get it wrong [with VAR]."
Talay made one unforced change to his starting side, with academy product Ben Old named to make his first start for the Phoenix in place of the injured Jaushua Sotirio, who rolled his ankle last week.
Old started in one of the twin playmaker roles, with David Ball moving up front alongside fellow Englishman Gary Hooper.
The Phoenix had the ball in the back of the net after half an hour, with defender Josh Laws capitalising on a mistake from Wanderers goalkeeper Tomas Mejias, but VAR ruled it out for offside.
Reno Piscopo had a couple of good opportunities at the end of the first-half, forcing a save from Mejias with one shot before narrowly missing the target with his second.
Hemed's goal turned the game on its head and the Wanderers for the most part controlled proceedings over the remainder of the match.
The Phoenix though continued to press for an equaliser and vice-captain Oli Sail came up for a corner in stoppage time. Unfortunately for Wellington, the Wanderers were able to break from the set piece and Koutroumbis was able to run away into an open net.
"Look I never want to concede goals whether it's one, two or three," Talay said.
"But at the end of the day it was the dying seconds of the game, we pushed everyone forward to try to equalise and it's one of those ones where they break and they score so whether it's one-nil or two-nil it doesn't bother me."
