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It was justice delayed but thankfully, in the case of Sydney FC's A-League Grand final victory over Perth Glory, not justice denied.
For much of a tense, elongated and inevitably exhausting decider it had seemed likely the Sydney faithful would be left enraged by a controversial VAR decision that ruled the game's only goal invalid.
Instead, thanks to the whimsy of the penalty shootout, it will be Sydney FC's pythonesque defence and iron nerves during the spot kicks that are the story of their fourth title rather than the goal they were denied.
The triumphant travelling fans will remember coach Steve Corica being dunked with water by his jubilant players as he conducted a post-game interview, not the spray he gave the fourth official when Adam Le Fondre's 27 minute goal was ruled out first by the linesman and then — inexplicably — by the VAR.
But while Sydney was not robbed, the officiating bungle can not be brushed away just because the no-goal became a footnote rather than the grand final's defining moment.
Rather than a week celebrating a fiercely contested match in a packed stadium that gave a troubled A-League season a bright conclusion, we could instead be still trying to work out why Sydney FC was denied what looked, felt and — to the irate Corica — probably even smelt like a goal.
So surely, at FFA headquarters, there will be sombre post-mortem about how on such a big stage the VAR system could have produced a decision so at odds with what fans saw with their own eyes.
Particularly, we would be asking how the officials watching the game 4,000 kilometres away from Perth Stadium on their monitors in the Sydney bunker could have found Michael Zullo was offside when he nudged the ball into Le Fondre's path when he seemed, from every available angle, to be fractionally behind the Perth defence.
"Too tight to overturn," was the official vindication of the perplexing decision — weasel words that allow the VAR to abdicate the very responsibility it is designed to accept.
You certainly did not need the assistance of a lip reader to interpret Corica's sideline protest, nor understand why the referee chose to give him a yellow card. Although, again, the eventual outcome meant the warning will hardly have marred the coach's night of celebration.
Of course we don't know what would have happened if the goal was allowed. Perhaps Sydney FC would have been spared the agony of extra time and penalties. Maybe it would have removed the tension and opened up a grand final so tight the players were endangered as much by claustrophobia as flying boot studs.
The 0-0 scoreline was not in keeping with the seasons of two free-scoring teams but nor did it completely detract from the entertainment provided an A-League record of 56,371.
If not quite a compelling argument for those football purists who believe scoreless draws are only dull to dull minds, the drama and tension rose not because someone had found the net but because they had not — at least not to the VAR's satisfaction.
The most oft-quoted statistic of the contest will be that the winners did not have a single shot on target. Instead, the best chance fell to Perth's Diego Castro whose free header on 52 minutes was denied by a brilliant one-handed save by Sydney FC goalkeeper Andrew Redmayne.
Yet as the drama built with legs heavy and the field seemingly the size of a phone box, penalties became inevitable — so much so, Perth coach Tony Popovic prepared for spot kicks by introducing his long-time favourite Brendon Santalab with five minutes of extra time remaining.
Romantics would have had Santalab scoring a late winner and giving his long-time mentor his first A-League grand final victory at his fourth attempt. But, for Perth fans, this would be more of a Game of Thrones conclusion than a heart-warming drama.
Santalab would end his often fiery and defiant career on the limpest of notes, patting an attempted Panenka penalty straight into Redmayne's safe hands. With Damien Keogh having already missed from the spot, it was only for Reza Ghoochannejhad to knock in the winning penalty and for Sydney's fans to erupt.
The romance would belong to Sydney FC skipper Alex Brosque who finished his career as a champion, albeit looking on from the bench in the agonising final minutes after being substituted after 94 minutes because of a hamstring strain.
But as much as Sydney FC's triumph defied a seemingly obvious injustice you could not help but feel for Perth Glory and, particularly, the now ill-fated Popovic.
Having returned from exile in Europe and crossed the nation to reinvigorate Glory, there seemed a sense of destiny about a team Popovic populated with some familiar faces, veterans and journeyman and instantly made a formidable force.
As it is Popovic has now lost A-League grand finals to spectacular goals, late winners, in extra time and on penalties; every form of footballing torture except the kind of VAR howler that, fortunately, did not deprive Sydney FC of a hard-won championship.
Topics: a-league, soccer, sport, perth-6000, wa, sydney-2000, nsw, australia
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