Wellington had coach Ricki Herbert’s three-match ban for offensive language reduced to one at an A-League appeal hearing on Wednesday night.
Football Federation Australia handed Herbert a revised one-game suspension, with a suspended ban of one more game.
An independent match review panel imposed the ban after Herbert was ejected late in the Phoenix win over Adelaide in Christchurch on Sunday for the “use of offensive, insulting or abusive language and/or gestures against a match official”.
The Wellington club’s initial appeal, alleging an “obvious error”, was dismissed by FFA’s disciplinary committee.
Herbert will be not be able to sit sideline for the Phoenix’s match against Gold Coast United at Skilled Park on Saturday.
Phoenix chief executive Nathan Greenham said the club was satisfied with the result of the appeal.
“This is by no means an admission of guilt on the part of Ricki Herbert and the club, but it was felt important to put the matter behind us and to get on with our season,” Greenham said.
