Two controversial refereeing decisions, accompanied by farcically long VAR reviews, have cost Central Coast dearly as the Mariners suffered a dramatic 3-2 loss to Melbourne City that sent the champions back to the top of the A-League Men table.
The Mariners were denied what appeared to be a clear penalty, and a chance to equalise at the death, after Mathew Leckie stepped on Lewis Miller's foot. That followed Melbourne City's first-half equaliser coming courtesy of a contentious penalty call against Kye Rowles.
Mariners coach Nick Montgomery said the decisions "ruined the game" and needed explanations.
"Tonight, they (City) had a lot of help and for opposition players to come off the park and just shake their head and say 'I don't know how we got away with that one', I've never really had that in my career," Montgomery said.
Miller was left with a gash in his foot from Leckie's 87th-minute challenge, when the Mariners trailed 3-2.
Referee Shaun Evans initially failed to whistle but went to a VAR review and despite spending almost five minutes checking the footage, inexplicably upheld his original decision.
Miller was dismayed while Mariners coach Nick Montgomery received a yellow card and goalkeeping coach Jess Vanstratten was sent off in the aftermath.
"Lewis Miller's icing a gash on top of his foot and again I don't know how you can't see that live," Montgomery said.
"The players' reaction from Melbourne City knew it was a penalty, they know they've given the penalty away, you see his reaction and then we have to take the player off because he's got a gash on top of his foot and apparently, there's no contact.
"I'm just in disbelief more than anything."
Earlier in the match, the Mariners were leading 1-0 courtesy of Beni Nkololo's wonderful strike when Evans awarded City a penalty after Kye Rowles lunged in on Marco Tilio.
The challenge clearly started outside the box but Tilio went down inside the area and to the Mariners' dismay, Evans gave a spot-kick, not a free kick.
After consultation with the VAR, Evans reviewed his own decision for more than two minutes before upholding it, with Jamie Maclaren coolly dispatching his 10th goal of the season.
"Melbourne City's first penalty is outside the box and that's a fact," Montgomery said.
"First contact is outside the box and when questioned about it, the feedback I got from the officials was it wasn't the first contact it was the second contact.
"I don't know when the rules changed but first contact as the player goes down, if he falls in the box and there's another contact. It's not the second contact."
City coach Patrick Kisnorbo was adamant Tilio had broken the challenge then went down in the box after further contact.
"From where I saw it from, it looked like Marco broke the first challenge and it was the second phase of the contact that got him down," he said.
Florin Berenguer put City in front in the 57th minute, with Oliver Bozanic equalising eight minutes later.
Tilio reclaimed the lead in the 74th minute before the game fell into late chaos.
