Such a Payne that Phoenix run had to end this way

BY FRED WOODCOCK IN SYDNEY

Wellington Phoenix coach Ricki Herbert is refusing to let Sydney's controversial "Hand of Payne" goal sour a breakthrough season for the A-League club.

An emotionally charged Herbert let rip post-match, questioning Sydney's ethics and the poor refereeing standards in the A-League after Chris Payne's blatant handball goal played a pivotal part in the Phoenix's 4-2 preliminary final loss at the Sydney Football Stadium.

He was more philosophical yesterday, rightly acknowledging the goal had not been the sole reason for the Phoenix's demise. But he was still contemplating what might have been.

"It's always going to sit in your mind," he said at the team's hotel in Sydney. "I think in 20 years, I'll look back on it and still be disappointed.

"Let's not take it away from Sydney, they were extremely good, but it's just disappointing an incident like that had a big effect on the game.

"This league is all about small advantages here and there and I think if we had of gone in at 1-1, our tails would have been up. I'm not sure what their reaction would have been, and who knows?

"We're going to have to live with it. The only thing I've said is 'who is accountable for it?' I haven't seen anybody accept responsibility yet."

A-League chief executive Archie Fraser put Green's mistake down as an ''unfortunate one-off'' and said Australian referees had been up to standard this season.

''I think the refereeing has been pretty good all year and we don't believe there's a problem at all,'' Fraser said yesterday.

''Yes, it's clearly a big game but at the end of the day, it's football and it happens. Referees are never going to see everything and they're going to get the occasional thing wrong. That was a tough one to see last night but from my point of view it's part and parcel of the game.

''We're seeing some good referees come through and we're seeing people like Chris Beath and 'Greeny', Strebre [Delovski], Matthew Breeze and Gerard Parsons generally doing well. You can always improve, but I suppose the players can improve too.''

Fraser confirmed there were refereeing reviews undertaken after every round and said much work already had been done in raising referee standards.

''There's independent assessors at every game and they provide us with plenty of feedback on the referees' performance,'' he said.

''There's lots of studies on how many times referees get things right and their error rate, but there's not necessarily an improvement between full-time and part-time referees.''

Payne's antics overshadowed a brilliant attacking display by Sydney, in particular Alex Brosque, and a disappointing Phoenix performance that fell well short of the benchmark they set in previous weeks.

They were simply out-thought and outclassed across the park.

Herbert acknowledged Sydney's superiority but yesterday preferred to accentuate the positives from the season.

"I couldn't be more proud of this group, 95 percent [of the media] didn't pick us to even make the playoffs.

"We've proven with 33,000 people through the gate [in Wellington] as opposed to 13,000 [in Sydney] that we're a force to be reckoned with, and quite rightly so. We've made a difference to the competition.

"I couldn't ask for anything more. We were one step from a grand final, it's a massive change for New Zealand football, and our goal next season will be to get there."

Herbert agreed next season would be a much tougher proposition with increased expectations on his side, and said it was important the club "took stock" to ensure improvements were made across the board so they could take that extra step.

Phoenix captain Andrew Durante said they would learn from Saturday and he was confident they could challenge for the title next season, given the core of the squad remains.

"It's disappointing we didn't get through, but we've had a great season. We'll have a similar team and we'll add some new players to give us an even better chance of going one step further.

"It's going to be a hard season to top, but it's only going to get better for Wellington Phoenix."

English striker Chris Greenacre also reflected on a top season, tinged with disappointment at coming so far without reaching the big show.

"We know what it takes now to get to a grand final, so hopefully that will stand us in good stead for next season. We know we're good enough to compete at this level."

Durante wants the A-League to look at adopting fulltime referees in the wake of the Payne furore.

"I don't know what they're doing during the week, they're doing normal jobs and then they have to come here to a big occasion and referee. They need to look at it."

-additional material by Sebastian Hassett (Sydney Morning Herald)

- © Fairfax NZ News