Perth Glory boss Kenny Lowe believes Melbourne City’s star marksman Bruno Fornaroli should have been penalised for a high boot as he opened the scoring in Sunday’s finals defeat against the Victorians.
Fornaroli netted the first of a brilliant brace in the 40th minute, acrobatically turning home an Aaron Mooy corner with an overhead kick. Perth never recovered from that point, going on to be eliminated thanks to a 2-0 scoreline.
Lowe made no excuses for the defeat in which Perth struggled to create openings in the final third, but did suggest Fornaroli’s stunning opener may have been overturned on another day.
“I though the first one (goal) was a bit contentions but the second one was sublime,” Lowe said.
“Good player (Fornaroli) … there’s not much more you can say about him really, he’s scored a boatload of goals and he played ever so well.
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“I just thought it was high foot. I think it’s there for him to go for, but if he kicks one in the air, maybe he (the referee) has got to blow the whistle … if he kicks one in the air, it’s got to be a free kick.
“It’s there for him to go for, there’s nothing wrong with that. And then it’s there for the full-back to go for, and there’s nothing wrong with that. I just think the referee needs to apply whatever law applies to the situation.
“We’ve had two (contentious high foot) calls this year, one at West Sydney and one here.
“But I don’t want to harp on about that, they were the better team and they deserved it. So irrespective of if he’s kicked someone in the head and scored … I’d be disappointed if my centre-forward hadn’t done that.
“So there’s no qualms on that front … they deserved the result.”
Despite suffering a premature end to the season, Lowe declared he was proud of what his team achieved throughout the season having spent much of the first part of the season towards the bottom of the table, well and truly feeling the after-effects of the salary cap saga.
Yet after rebuilding the squad in part during the January transfer window, Glory rebounded to secure a fifth-placed finish.
“We’ve done ever so well to come this far.
“We deserved to come this far, it’s just that on the day we were a little bit behind City in performance.
“It’s probably a bit raw and emotional at the moment after a game you lose, but in a couple of days’ time, you sit down and reflect on what we’ve achieved this year.
“We’ve been to an FFA Cup final, we’ve been in the finals … we got 50 points last year, we got 46 points this year … we’ve done magnificent.
“When I look back and reflect, everyone can be proud of what we’ve achieved the last couple of years.”
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