Wellington Phoenix displaced Perth Glory from fourth place on the A-League ladder when they beat third-ranked Gold Coast United 1-0 at Skilled Park this evening.
A controversial penalty in stoppage time at the end of the first half decided the match.
Bas van den Brink appeared to get the ball as he tackled Tim Brown just inside the left-hand corner of the box, but the referee pointed to the penalty spot, much to the consternation of the home-side’s players.
Paul Ifill scored with his spot-kick to make it 1-0.
Gold Coast had plenty of chances to win, but could not even find an equaliser.
“I don’t want to criticise the referee,” said Gold Coast United coach, Miron Bleiberg.
“We did everything and I did all the subs. In the end we played with four strikers and two defenders and we did everything we can.
“It’s partly our fault. If we were such a good team and deserve the championship we should have scored two goals against the penalty.
“We haven’t done it, so we lost the game.
“We can’t argue. That’s football. We’ve been in this game long enough to learn how to accept decisions.”
Gold Coast captain, Jason Culina, said he was very disappointed with the result.
“We weren’t up to our usual standard and we were too slow and gave away a very silly goal,” Culina said.
“It’s not the first time this season that’s happened, and we keep talking about it but it keeps happening.
“It’s something to think about, but it’s not over. There’s still one game to go and we look forward to it.”
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