Central Coast Mariners lost 2-1 in a right contest against the Wellington Phoenix, and Mariners coach Nick Montgomery wasn’t happy with VAR’s decisions on either goal his side conceded.
The first goal the home side scored he believed there was a push in the back that led to the Phoenix gaining an advantage.
“For me, the first goal there is a two-handed push in the back which you can see from one angle”, Montgomery said.
“I didn’t think you were allowed to push people in the back with two hands.”
A second goal was conceded by Central Coast only eight minutes later, with Oskar Zawada scoring thanks to a controversial non-foul prior on Marco Tulio.
The incident happened while the Mariners were on attack, then Wellington ended up scoring from the counterattack.
“That second goal a Wellington player makes a mistake on the edge of the box, we pounce on it and Tulio gets fouled”, Montgomery said.
“We don’t get the foul call and they go down the other end and score. If that’s not a clear foul on Tulio I don’t know what a foul is.”
It brought into question the debate on how far back VAR can look back when a goal has been scored.
Montgomery said it has happened to his side many times this season where VAR have gone back to check fouls and he just wants consistency.
“I thought VAR was there to look back and make correct decisions. We have had goals chalked off where they have gone back 25-30 seconds in the opposition’s half,” he said.
“We just want consistency. You don’t want goals taken away but a foul is a foul. For me it was a foul.”
Central Coast Mariners have had a whopping eight goals taken off them thanks to VAR, something that Montgomery didn’t forget to mention.
“You obviously don’t want goals chalked off but we have had eight VAR goals chalked off this season already.”
The match was fairly even throughout, with Wellington’s two goals in eight minutes being the changing point.
At stages Central Coast were the better side, making Nick Montgomery believe they should have gotten a point at least.
“On reflection, a draw would have probably been a fair result, it was a great battle between two competitive sides,” he said.
Another A-League Men match and more VAR controversy, hopefully the whole system can be sorted out soon, with some decisions taking well over five minutes.
VAR was added to help referees make the right calls, but unfortunately it is just confusing things at the moment.
Feature Image Credit: Central Coast Mariners
