Adelaide irate at referees' performances - Sports News - Fanatics - the world's biggest events

Adelaide irate at referees' performances

By Guy Hand 18/02/2007 11:49:51 PM Comments (0)

Vanquished Adelaide United turned their post-match venom on the referees after their A-League grand final drubbing at Telstra Dome, with veteran striker Carl Veart saying the "three blind mice" could have done a better job.

Adelaide was reduced to 10 men for much of their 6-0 loss to Melbourne Victory after skipper Ross Aloisi was sent off by referee Mark Shield for elbowing Victory midfielder Grant Brebner in the head.

It earned Aloisi a second yellow card he described as "soft", with coach John Kosmina and Veart also weighing in with their criticism of the referee and his assistants.

Victory hard man Kevin Muscat was singled out by Adelaide in their attack on the referees, with United coach Kosmina questioning why his physical tactics went unpunished.

United was seething over Shield's failure to book Muscat in the second minute for a challenge on midfielder Diego which left the Adelaide player writhing in pain.

Muscat was not booked for that tackle.

But Aloisi was fuming after he was marched - his first yellow card coming 10 minutes before his send-off for a late challenge on Victory midfielder Fred.

"I never even touched the player the first time," Aloisi told Fox Sports.

"I mean, Kevin Muscat kills our player on the halfway line from behind and gets him, and doesn't get a booking.

"And I don't even touch the player and get booked ... the second yellow card - Jesus, if I've seen a softer yellow card."

Veart, one of the A-League's most experienced players who plied his trade in Europe for a decade before returning home, launched a stinging post-match tirade against the referees.

"Melbourne have done well today, but we felt we were harshly done by. I think the three blind mice could have done a better job out there," Veart said.

"The league's got to have a look at it. The players are getting very professional now, and we're getting basic errors made every week.

"It's just not good enough. This league has to look at getting better officials and start getting someone to start looking at the officials again.

"How can they get away with basic mistakes every week and come out and get big games again?"

Sunday night continued Adelaide's difficult relationship with officials during the finals series.

Kosmina was fined and banned from coaching from the sidelines after abusing referee Matthew Breeze following last week's preliminary final.

And United lost left fullback Matthew Kemp for the grand final through suspension because of a dubious yellow card picked up in last week's preliminary final - his second booking of the final series.

But Muscat defended his tackling and said the refereeing had nothing to do with Victory's comfortable win.

"Regardless of whether that tackle went in or not, we were going to go on and win the game," Muscat said.

"Regardless of any decisions, any offsides, the goal that was disallowed, regardless of all that, sometime you've got to admit that the better team won."

Brought to you by AAP AAP © 2024 AAP

0 Comments about this article

Post a comment about this article

Please sign in to leave a comment.
Becoming a member is free and easy, sign up here.

« All sports news