VAR farce overshadows City's Mariners win

Two controversial refereeing decisions, accompanied by farcically long VAR reviews, have cost Central Coast dearly as the Mariners suffered a dramatic 3-2 loss to Melbourne City that sent the champions back to the top of the A-League Men table.

The Mariners were denied what appeared to be a clear penalty, and a chance to equalise at the death, after Mathew Leckie stepped on Lewis Miller's foot. That followed Melbourne City's first-half equaliser coming courtesy of a contentious penalty call against Kye Rowles.

Mariners coach Nick Montgomery said the decisions "ruined the game" and needed explanations.

"Tonight, they (City) had a lot of help and for opposition players to come off the park and just shake their head and say 'I don't know how we got away with that one', I've never really had that in my career," Montgomery said.

Miller was left with a gash in his foot from Leckie's 87th-minute challenge, when the Mariners trailed 3-2.

Referee Shaun Evans initially failed to whistle but went to a VAR review and despite spending almost five minutes checking the footage, inexplicably upheld his original decision.

Miller was dismayed while Mariners coach Nick Montgomery received a yellow card and goalkeeping coach Jess Vanstratten was sent off in the aftermath.

"Lewis Miller's icing a gash on top of his foot and again I don't know how you can't see that live," Montgomery said.

"The players' reaction from Melbourne City knew it was a penalty, they know they've given the penalty away, you see his reaction and then we have to take the player off because he's got a gash on top of his foot and apparently, there's no contact.

"I'm just in disbelief more than anything."

Earlier in the match, the Mariners were leading 1-0 courtesy of