The Wellington Phoenix coach Ricki Herbert has launched into the competency of A-League referees and players who ruin the game by "diving".
That was Herbert's reaction to the decision of the A-League match review committee to uphold the red card given to Ben Sigmund for bringing down Adelaide's Argentine midfielder Jeronimo Neumann in the box at the weekend.
TV replays showed plenty of space between the players in the 77th-minute incident, prompting speculation that Neumann might face disciplinary action himself for diving.
The Phoenix captain Andrew Durante called the South American a cheat after the game, while Herbert opened old wounds by recalling referee Jarred Gillett's controversial decision to award a penalty to Brisbane in the 94th minute of the 2012 A-League grand final against Perth.
Under the competition's rules on simulation introduced two seasons ago, any player found guilty of diving faces a standard two-match ban.
Meanwhile Durante still faces the prospect of breaching the A-League player code of conduct, but he wasn't mentioned in the FFA's statement.
