Wellington Phoenix want apology from Sydney FC over Payne hand-ball
Wellington Phoenix coach Ricki Herbert has slammed the manner of Sydney FC's finals win last night after Chris Payne's hand-ball goal.
Payne scored using his arm, lunging forward with his head to meet a free kick but blatantly putting the ball into the back of the net with his arm.
"It's dreadful, isn't it?," the usually mild-mannered Herbert said of referee Peter Green's decision to award the goal.
"Who is going to apologise for that? At the end of the day, it's not acceptable at this level of football.
"Irrespective of what the result might have been at the end of the day, I think it is poor.
"And I think for a player to do that is unacceptable as well."
Asked if he thought Payne should have owned up about the handball at the time, Herbert said: "You've got some comparisons around the world now, and that one is three times as bad.
"I don't know, as a club you've got to consider what your ethics are like and if you accept that, then so be it."
Nix striker Chris Greenacre added: "It just rips the heart out of you. We got back in the game with a good goal and that takes it away from you. It wasn't to be.
"I think we were right back in it. They played some good football but I thought we had withstood it OK. If we went into halftime [at 1-1] we were really confident we could get something out of it."
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Matches
| Home | Away | Score | Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sun Apr 22nd | |||
| Brisbane Roar | Perth Glory | 2 - 1 | 06:00 |
Tables
| Team | P | W | D | L | GD | PTS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Central Coast Mariners | 27 | 15 | 6 | 6 | 16 | 51 |
| Brisbane Roar | 27 | 14 | 7 | 6 | 22 | 49 |
| Perth Glory | 27 | 13 | 4 | 10 | 5 | 43 |
| Wellington Phoenix | 27 | 12 | 4 | 11 | 2 | 40 |
| Sydney | 27 | 10 | 8 | 9 | -5 | 38 |
| Melbourne Heart | 27 | 9 | 10 | 8 | 1 | 37 |
| Newcastle Jets | 27 | 10 | 5 | 12 | -3 | 35 |
| Melbourne Victory | 27 | 6 | 11 | 10 | -8 | 29 |
| Adelaide United | 27 | 5 | 10 | 12 | -18 | 25 |
| Gold Coast United | 27 | 4 | 9 | 14 | -12 | 21 |
Comments (6)
to the faggott below the handball was such a blatant piece of cheating it isnt funny the player even runs off celebrating as if he really scored when he knows he has cheated herbett is just point out what a bunch of classless cheating ***** the aussies are no class at all...
Herbert is a cry baby. Was this really 3 times worse than Maradona kicking England out of the world cup, was it 3 times worse than Henry denying Ireland a place in the world cup? Both cases were much more obviously deliberate and the consequences were way worse. I think his reaction is over the top and he should be embarrassed at those comments and apologise for being such a sook. Is this man really taking NZ to the world cup? He better sharpen up.
yeah no one was surprised the aussie officials cheated their team through....
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