Melbourne Victory manager Kevin Muscat slams FFA for state of the pitch at QBE Stadium in Auckland

APOPLECTIC Melbourne Victory coach Kevin Muscat has slammed Football Federation Australia for Saturday’s “disgrace” of an A-League match.

A-League Rd 8 - Melbourne v Adelaide

APOPLECTIC Melbourne Victory coach Kevin Muscat has slammed Football Federation Australia for Saturday’s “disgrace” of an A-League match against Wellington Phoenix.

Muscat said the QBE Stadium pitch in Auckland was nothing more than “green sand”.

And the Victory boss also put the blame for Saturday’s bizarre strip clash firmly at the foot of A-League boss Damien de Bohun.

Wellington wore a special one-off silver kit, which caused mass confusion for fans and players alike as Victory was forced to wear its white away shirt in combination with its blue home shorts and socks.

Muscat insisted the referee had initially said it was OK for Victory to wear all blue, only for de Bohun to overrule and force the match commissioner in to making Victory wear white.

The strip change only occurred in the warm-up.

Playing away from its normal Wellington home, the Phoenix won the match 2-0, snapping Victory’s six-game win streak in all competitions.

Speaking exclusively to the Sunday Herald Sun post match, Muscat was at pains to stress his side needs to cop the loss and not blame external factors for the defeat.

But Muscat also promised unequivocally that he would be equally as livid if his side had won, saying it was a bad look for a sport already in crisis due to ongoing fan boycotts.

“It is an absolute disgrace that pitch passes the standards that we’ve supposedly got for an elite football game,” Muscat said.

“If that passes the minimum standard then the process is flawed and needs to be looked at.

“These sorts of things have happened before and obviously have not been rectified.

“The pitch was not fit for a football game, let alone safe.

“I thought grass was a pretty big component that needs to be used for a football game, unfortunately there was no grass, it was just green sand.”

Muscat said he could not comprehend how, in a professional competition, two teams could wear such similar uniforms.

“The referee made the decision that our white shirts were too much in conflict with Wellington’s silver, so we were told to wear blue,” Muscat said.

“Then later on we were told to put our white shirts back on because the FFA had made a call overruling the decision of the referee.

“It was last minute, it was in the warm up.

“Obviously the footballing contest is not their priority.”

Muscat said he still wasn’t happy his side was unable to come away with a win.

“In those games there though, all it is a fight,” he said.

“And if we had have won we would have had to rely on luck because we’ve had to change our style and the way we play dramatically because of the conditions.”

Originally published as Melbourne Victory manager Kevin Muscat slams FFA for state of the pitch at QBE Stadium in Auckland