Central Coast coach Phil Moss was left scratching his head at a second half penalty call against the Mariners as they went down 2-0 to Brisbane Roar in Gosford on Friday night.
The Mariners had their chances in the first half but couldn’t find an opening, eventually giving away penalties in the 50th and 92nd minutes which Jean Carlos Solorzano and Anrija Kaluderovic slotted to seal the match.
But the first penalty was a sticking point for Moss, who questioned the call after a split-second rebound caught Eddy Bosnar on the elbow.
Result: Central Coast Mariners 0 Brisbane Roar 2
“The penalty was just unlucky. The first one with Bosnar, he’s read the flight of the ball and he’s gone to put his head down and his arms are up to balance him.
“I don’t know what you’re supposed to do with your arms if you can’t use them for balance, but a deflection off Broich and it hits him in the elbow and it’s a penalty. One nil.
“It depends on the interpretation. Is it hand to ball, is it ball to hand? I’ll never understand that rule.
“I think it’s gotta be more black and white than that. If it’s deliberate, you can tell it’s deliberate but tonight there’s no way on earth that was deliberate.”
The Mariners conceded the second penalty when Anthony Kalik brought down Thomas Broich in the box after getting caught with the ball at his feet.
“Just unfortunate,” Moss explained.
“Thomas is a player with great experience and he knows how to sniff out a penalty and there’s probably a bit of contact there from Anthony but he’ll learn from it.
“He’ll grow from it and it’s all part of learning what it means to be a professional footballer. It’s great lows, it’s great highs. There’s not much in between in pro football.
