Sport

Football: Phoenix coach unleashes on A-League officials

10:34 am on 3 December 2018

The referee, the VAR system and A-League bosses were in Wellington Phoenix coach Mark Rudan's crosshairs after their gutting 1-1 draw with Perth Glory.

Photo: PHOTOSPORT

And he didn't miss.

Rudan bared his soul and has potentially cost himself a sanction from the league tribunal after his team were reduced to 10 men late on Sunday and then conceded an equaliser to super-sub Diego Castro.

Referee Adam Kersey's red card for an innocuous Ryan Lowry challenge earned the wrath of the new coach.

Rudan's criticism extended to video referee Nick Waldron, who he said should never have nominated the incident for review after Lowry clipped Perth forward Chris Ikonomidis.

Rudan didn't stop there, believing time should be called on the VAR system and then saved his best for Football Federation Australia, who he accused of treating the Wellington club differently because of their historic struggles and the fact their existence is a source of contention.

"Little old Wellington Phoenix. I spoke about this when I first came to this football club, that nothing goes our way," Rudan said.

"Everything goes against us because no one wants us around. And here we are six weeks into the season and we're seeing this happen."

Photo: PHOTOSPORT

Rudan said his players were devastated, having been on course to topple the league leaders following Roy Krishna's club record 34th goal put them deservedly in front.

It prompted his call for a "civil discussion" with all stakeholders to assess the merits of the VAR system.

"It's become a bit of a mockery," he said.

Rudan's most pointed criticism was directed at Kersey.

He said the red card was only fractionally worse than the decision not to award a penalty when Louis Fenton was tugged in the box by opposite Jason Davidson.

Four Phoenix players were yellow-carded in the second half and Rudan wasn't convinced by any of them.

"It couldn't have been more one-sided. I've never seen anything like it," Rudan said.

"It got to the point where I had to laugh. I turned around to my coaching staff and it was hilarious. It was a joke, an absolute joke.

"If (Kersey) can sleep well at night, good on him. But you know, he's cost us. He certainly has."

-AAP