The red card handed to Melbourne City defender Callum Talbot before being withdrawn following a VAR check during Perth's 2-1 A-League Men loss to Melbourne City should have stood, Glory coach Alen Stajcic says.
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Talbot was left in disbelief when second-game referee Daniel Cook handed him a straight red for bringing down Glory speedster Salim Khelifi in the 14th minute of Friday night's clash.
Although the foul was a light one, and occurred more than 40 metres from goal, Cook deemed Talbot the last defender and therefore deserving of a sending off.
But when the VAR stepped in and gave Cook the opportunity to view replays of the incident, the official downgraded the card to yellow.
A disappointed Stajcic felt the original decision should have stood.
"(Khelifi) was in on goal, Talbot was the last player," the Glory coach said.
"I know Curtis Good was coming from an angle, and when you stop it and slow it down and give Curtis Good time to get back after the 55th frame of Salim being on the floor, then he was in behind.
"But he was 20 metres away to start with, and he wouldn't have caught Salim.
"So for me it wasn't a clear and obvious error, and the red card should have stood."
Perhaps unsurprisingly, City coach Aurelio Vidmar believed justice was served when the offence was downgraded.
"It was a surprise it was (originally) a red," he said.
"There were at least a couple of defenders from memory right there.
"It was just a normal foul that could happen everywhere, so I was really surprised with the red."
Glory conceded the first goal of the match after defender John Koutroumbis gave away an unnecessary penalty when he grabbed the arm of Tolgay Arslan as the German attempted to latch on to a lofted pass.
"It was a silly action. Unnecessary action," Stajcic said.
"A bit of ill discipline there on his part, and he's got to make sure he doesn't do that again.
"It's something that hurts the team. We've got to be more disciplined than that."
Glory's fourth loss on the trot leaves them just one point above last-placed Western United.
City, who are back in the finals mix after posting two wins and a draw from their past three matches, will now turn their attention to Tuesday night's Asian Champions League clash with Zhejiang at Ikon Park.
Australian Associated Press
