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."