Head Coach John van ‘t Schip has revealed his frustration at the officiating decisions which overshadowed Melbourne Heart FC’s 1-3 loss to the Central Coast Mariners in Gosford yesterday.
Head Coach John van ‘t Schip has revealed his frustration at the officiating decisions which overshadowed Melbourne Heart FC’s 1-3 loss to the Central Coast Mariners in Gosford yesterday.
The Mariners took the lead on the stroke of half time in highly dubious circumstances, earning a debatable corner before Matt Simon converted the ensuing set piece despite clearly infringing upon ‘keeper Clint Bolton.
While Heart managed to grab a deserved equaliser through Eli Babalj with under 15 minutes remaining, referee Gerard Parsons was again at the centre of controversy soon after as he awarded a penalty for handball against Jonatan Germano when the ball clearly struck the Argentine-s shoulder.
Patrick Zwaanswijk then headed home in the dying stages to clinch all three points for the home side, leaving Heart to ponder what might have been.
Van ‘t Schip bemoaned the misfortune which befell his side, saying he was content with Heart-s execution of his game plan.
“Going behind just before half time is always mentally, a difficult moment, but I think the last part of the second half, before the penalty, we were getting better and better and scored a deserved equaliser,” he said.
“After that, it was the decision of the referee, like it was for the first goal; giving a corner which wasn-t a corner and giving a penalty which clearly wasn-t a penalty.
“It-s happened to us before, it happened last week to Perth, I think the referees are having a big influence on some games and that-s never the purpose. They have to make decisions in a split moment, but these are big decisions that they make. It-s very sore for the players and the whole club.”
