A seething Rob Stanton is urging A-League Men referees to offer greater protection to Clayton Taylor after the Newcastle livewire was on the wrong end of some heavy-handed treatment from Sydney FC.
Taylor failed to return in the second half of Friday's 4-0 loss to the Sky Blues, with coach Stanton revealing the teenager had picked up a cork.
The 19-year-old has emerged as one of Newcastle's most potent attacking options this season but was continually hunted down by Sydney, including one heavy challenge from Jake Girdwood-Reich.
Stanton said referee Adam Bavcar had failed in his duty to offer Taylor sufficient protection.
"In my opinion, I think the ref was pretty poor with some of his decisions," Stanton said.
"I think there was a red card... and I think he got it wrong and that could have altered the game.
"He got poleaxed twice and I'm disappointed that he wasn't protected.
"I lost him at halftime which forced me to make some changes and I'm not saying that's why we lost, don't get me wrong, but moments change games and I think that was a game-changer for us."
Stanton also became the latest coach to take issue with the length of VAR checks in the competition.
He was frustrated that one review on Sydney's Gabriel Lacerda - who struck Jets defender Phil Cancar with a stray hand - took more than four minutes to complete.
"It's a waste of time, we wasted four minutes and it irritated everyone, including myself," Stanton said.
"It was nothing, it should have just been play on, it happens all the time… I don't even know why we bothered."
But Stanton is refusing to let the Jets' mid-season struggles - they have won just one game in their last six - dent their confidence.
The first-year ALM coach sits 10th on the table after his first 13 games in charge with a glimmer of hope that his club's longstanding ownership issues will be resolved in the near future.
"It's all part of the learning for myself and for them as well," Stanton said.
"We put out quite a young team but they'll pick up, they're good like that and they bounce back pretty good."
