Wellington Phoenix head coach Ufuk Talay felt defender Tim Payne should never have been shown a red card for his foul on Perth forward David Williams in his side’s 2-2 A-League draw with Perth Glory.
“I tried to have a look at it again in the changing room,” Talay told media post-game.
“I thought 1. He [Williams] was never going to get to the ball and 2. I think Cal Elliot’s behind Payney as well to be able deal with it.
“Obviously the officials had a long look at it … and decided it was a red card which I thought was quite soft.”
Talay says the decision had a big impact on the game.
“We had to change our formation and we had to make a sub. I felt the boys did well. Just probably that last lapse … and they score the second.
“To be honest…I could possibly say we got a bit lucky. The ball hit the post a couple of times.
“The main thing was playing with 10 men we didn’t lose the game and we walk away with one point.”
Talay’s post-match interview
The red card incident
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Result
Game played on Saturday January 28, 2023
Wellington Phoenix 2 (Oskar Zawada 11′, Kosta Barbarouses 20′)
Perth Glory 2 (David Williams 22′, 80′)