Sign up now
Australia Shopping Network. It's All About Shopping!
Categories

Posted: 2014-12-14 04:42:52
Victory's Mark Milligan and Sydney's Terry Antonis collide during the A-League match on Saturday.

Victory's Mark Milligan and Sydney's Terry Antonis collide during the A-League match on Saturday. Photo: Getty Images

Melbourne Victory skipper Mark Milligan faces an anxious wait to find out whether he will be cited by the A-League's match review panel on Monday after his ugly clash with Sydney midfielder Terry Antonis in Saturday night's epic 3-3 draw at Etihad Stadium.

Milligan left Antonis' face bleeding, with the youngster requiring 10 stitches after the match. Milligan's elbow  made contact with Antonis above the eye during the first half of a competitive game in which Victory outmuscled the Sky Blues in key contests.

Referee Peter Green took no action during the game, and his version of events will prove critical in the review panel's weighing up of the incident.

If Green's match report says he did not see what happened, then the panel is likely to review the graphic broadcast footage and take action.

Advertisement

Should Milligan be convicted, he will almost certainly miss the derby against Melbourne City on Saturday and the following home match against the Newcastle Jets on December 27.

After that he would go into camp with the Socceroos for the Asian Cup, so national team manager Ange Postecoglou would also have some concerns if he missed two league games in the run-up to the Asian Cup opener against Kuwait on January 9 as his match sharpness would be impaired.

Iacopo La Rocca, Western Sydney Wanderers midfielder, elbowed Antonis in the Sydney derby in March 2013 and was sent off by the referee. He was given a four-match ban, which kept him out of the finals, so there is a precedent for a heavy penalty for use of the elbow.

Neither coach was prepared to become involved in the debate after the match, wary of attracting censure or a fine from the FFA.

"The referee makes those decisions. It's his decision, not mine," Sydney boss Graham Arnold said.

"You can't talk about the match review panel, otherwise you'll get in trouble. And you get fined. You should know that coaches in this league aren't allowed to have an opinion. Because otherwise we get fined.

"He's [Antonis] getting 10 stitches in his eye. He said to me at half-time that he couldn't see out of his right eye, it was all blurry, watering all the time. But he still went out and did a fantastic job."

Kevin Muscat was also circumspect, suggesting that the match official was close enough to the contest to see what happened.

"I'd love to comment, but from where I was, they're running towards each other, Milligan's obviously got his eyes are on the ball because he's ended up heading it," the Victory boss said.

"The referee's five yards away … I dare say the referee's seen it and he dealt with it in the manner that he thought was appropriate. He obviously had a better angle and view than me."

Debate over Milligan's fate should not obscure Archie Thompson's feat in notching a hat trick to ensure his side grabbed a share of the spoils and retained its unbeaten record.

Thompson was back to his irrepressible best and despite turning 36 six weeks ago showed he can still do the job when required.

View More
  • 0 Comment(s)
Captcha Challenge
Reload Image
Type in the verification code above