VAR drama as Sydney sink Macarthur in ALM finals

Sydney FC are through to the A-League Men semi-finals after claiming a 4-0 win over Macarthur FC, who were victims of one of the most debatable refereeing decisions of the season.

An eighth-minute strike from Robert Mak set the hosts on their way on Saturday night before a second-half curler from Joe Lolley, who injured himself in the act of scoring, put the game beyond the Bulls’ reach.

Jaiden Kucharski grabbed Sydney’s third in the 67th minute before Mak added his second to wrap up the win for Ufuk Talay’s men.

The Sky Blues will face Central Coast or Wellington across a two-legged semi-final, depending on the result of Sunday’s elimination final between Melbourne Victory and Melbourne City.

As well concerns over Lolley, captain Luke Brattan trudged off in the final five minutes with a suspected foot injury.

But Sydney were fortunate enough to profit from some questionable officiating at Allianz Stadium, when Bulls right-back Kealey Adamason was shown a straight red card by referee Alireza Faghani in the 27th minute.

Adamason collided with Sydney’s Jordan Courtney-Perkins as the pair competed for a ball in behind the Macarthur defence which was travelling away from goal.

Both players also had their backs to goal, and as he was glanced by Adamson, Courtney-Perkins fell to ground.

Faghani blew for a penalty and issued Adamson a yellow card before going to check on VAR to determine if the first contact had come in or outside the Bulls’ box.

After completing his review, Faghani attempted to use live VAR – where officials explain their decision over a public announcement system – for the first time.

But his justification was barely audible inside the venue and Macarthur players were stunned to learn he had decided to send Adamson off.

Football Australia said it was the correct call because Courtney-Perkins had been denied a clear and obvious goalscoring opportunity.

But that explanation was scoffed at by Sydney legend Alex Brosque and 80-cap Socceroos midfielder Luke Wilkshire on Network Ten’s commentary.

Both experts claimed the decision lacked a feel for a game, which up until that point had been shaping as a cracker.

Lolley had been a threat from the get-go but it was attacking partner Mak who got Sydney going when he raced onto an Anthony Caceres through ball and tucked past Filip Kurto.

Macarthur were camped in their own half and it was when they were under the cosh that the Adamson controversy took place.

Still they kept fighting and Valere Germain nearly pulled the Bulls level on the stroke of halftime.

Lolley made the Frenchman pay for his wastefulness when he thumped in from the edge of the Macarthur box in the 50th minute.

The English winger limped off with a suspected hamstring injury and now faces a race to get fit for next week.

Macarthur’s heads dropped from there and while Mile Sterjovski’s men attempted to claw back a goal it was to no avail.

Kurcharski chimed in with a goal before Mak sealed his double to send Sydney through.