Melbourne Victory were part of Thrilling Draw against Sydney Wanderers

Melbourne Victory were involved in a thrilling 3-3 draw with Sydney Wanderers at the Allianz stadium, but the away team boss Kevin Muscat was extremely unhappy with the way the game panned out. Melbourne looked on course for a victory but they were denied by a controversial penalty awarded by the referee.

There were two penalties awarded to the home team in both halves. However, Muscat was unhappy with the second penalty that was scored by Smeltz since he felt that it was awarded for minimal or even no contact.

Refereeing decisions have been the focus in recent weeks with even top leagues being criticised for poor standard of refereeing. Muscat stated that the Australian A-League is also suffering as a result of it. He feels that fans could be turned away from the game if this continues for long. Smeltz ended up scoring the equaliser with five minutes of normal time remaining.

Melbourne were leading the match on two occasions only to be pegged back by the home team. This draw sees the team get just two wins in the last five matches. They remain two points behind table leaders Perth Glory with a game in hand. Television replays have been seen as the way to end the refereeing errors, but FIFA have not been ready to accept it.

Muscat told StanJames that “The penalty wasn’t questionable it was just no-existent. It was so far from being a penalty.There’s a group of players in there that are accountable for their actions because I make them. It just seems at the moment not everyone is accountable for their actions.What we will say tomorrow is what a great advert (that game) was for the A-League but I totally disagree. If we start saying that’s an advert for the A-League we’re going down the wrong path.”