Melbourne coach Ernie Merrick has taken a thinly-veiled swipe at referee Strebre Delovski following his team's heart-breaking Hyundai A-League Grand Final defeat to Sydney FC on penalties on Saturday night.
In a physical and at times spiteful championship decider at Etihad Stadium, Sky Blues quartet Sebastian Ryall, Simon Colosimo, Karol Kisel and Mark Bridge and Victory pair Kevin Muscat and Evan Berger all picked up yellow cards.
But with Muscat's caution for criticising Delovski and Berger the only Melbourne player carded for barging over an opponent, an initially reluctant Merrick opened up and said he felt the home side had been hard done by as the eventual winners took a physical approach from the opening whistle.
"I was disappointed we didn't win the game in 90 minutes - we had it in 90 minutes - (but) I was a bit frustrated that every time we had an attack there would be a blatant professional foul and we had to stop and start again," Merrick said.
"There weren't many yellow cards being handed out which was disappointing but what can I say."
Having suffered a devastating blow in just the 12th minute when star striker Archie Thompson sustained a serious knee injury that is likely to sideline him for several months, Merrick also admitted that he quickly realised his team wasn't as clinical as usual.
"We created some good stuff but there wasn't that killer instinct - you can always tell with us - if we are not getting in behind the defence and playing through balls in behind the defence we are not playing our normal game," a disappointed Merrick added.
The Victory had to head straight to Melbourne Airport after the game to spend 16 hours travelling to Japan for their AFC Champions League clash with Kawasaki Frontale on Tuesday night and Merrick is unsure how his shattered players will come up physically.
"They are a pretty tough bunch, this is just one of many setbacks we have had this year and we still got to the Grand Final despite the setbacks we have had and this bunch will pick themselves up mentally but physically is another question - that will be really tough," he said.
"I come back to the players we have got - we have got a fantastic bunch of players and very talented and we have got good depth and we kept coming back from very difficult situations and even after 120 minutes we did well and in the final hurdle it was just tough on the boys."