Wellington coach Ricki Herbert stopped short of declaring his side was ripped off in their loss to Adelaide, instead suggesting the media should do it for him.
Wellington Phoenix coach Ricki Herbert stopped short of declaring his side was ripped off in Saturday’s contentious 3-1 loss to Adelaide United at Hindmarsh Stadium, instead suggesting the media should do it for him.
After holding a 1-0 half-time lead, Wellington completely unravelled in a disastrous second half to notch their first loss of the season.
Jeronimo Neumann’s 55th-minute goal tied the ball-game, before the Phoenix almost snatched the lead back when Jeremy Brockie found the back of the net in the 58th minute, only to be disallowed after he was deemed to have been off side.
Rubbing salt into Wellington’s wounds, Cassio then scored for United in the 67th minute, with replays suggesting Cassio may have been offside himself.
Then in the 84th minute, Kiwi Ben Sigmund was given his marching orders for what appeared minimal contact on Jeronimo, who went to ground following a delayed reaction.
“The decisions are there and the referee’s got to make them,” Herbert said.
“You’ve seen the video footage – write it yourself. I don’t need to put words in your mouth.
“You write about it … you put it out there if you think it’s wrong.
“We don’t always have to be firing bullets for you.
“We’ve got an opinion and sometimes we can’t voice them.
Herbert was careful with how he worded his post-match thoughts, but left no doubt that he believed Brockie’s goal was legitimate and Cassio’s wasn’t.
“Jeremy’s goal was a great goal when you get a chance to see it,” Herbert said.
“I thought Cassio’s goal – albeit in his 100th game, he’s a great player and has done super well for the club – that’s off side.
“You make your own assessments on those. All we ask for is a fair and equal line across the board.”
Herbert was cagier when asked about Neumann’s ‘dive’ in the 74th minute, which ended Sigmund’s night and reduced the visitors to 10 men.
It was apparent that Herbert also hadn’t seen skipper Andrew Durante’s controversial post-match comments on Fox Sports regarding the incident, in which he labelled the Argentine “a cheat” and declared that “he’s dived”.
“You need to ask Andrew,” Herbert said.
“I haven’t seen that (footage); I don’t know he said it. We’ll wait and see.
“Let’s have a look at the review on the dive.
“If the boy (Jeronimo) hasn’t dived, then that’s fine, we all move on – it happens from time to time.
“If he has, then there’s maybe a chance to make a bit of a statement.”
