Sydney FC marked Patrick Kisnorbo's return to AAMI Park by claiming a smash-and-grab win to reach the A-League Men semi-finals against Newcastle.
Patrick Wood pounced on a horror error from young defender Franco Lino to score the winner in the 80th minute.
Lino was jostling for an aerial duel but instead of heading the ball forwards, turned it backwards looking for goalkeeper Jack Warshawsky, but Wood nipped in and scored the sucker-punch goal.
It added salt into Victory's wounds given they dominated and had two key decisions go against them.
Victory demanded a penalty in the 57th minute when Apostolos Stamatelopoulos pulled Jason Davidson back by his jersey at a corner, but their pleas went unheard.
Five minutes later, Victory were awarded a penalty when referee Lachlan Keevers ruled Okon had bowled over Santos, but he overturned the call after a VAR review.
"There's only one person that makes those decisions, and I think he's got them wrong," Diles said.
"And it's just disappointing. I think games like that, there shouldn't be controversy from the guy in the middle, and it's disappointing.
"I don't think we've won a game that he's reffed and every game there's been VAR controversy that he's been involved in - not his fault - but I think he can be better than he was.
"And in the end, that's our night. That's our season. It's disappointing. It hurts."
Victory drew two and lost two games officiated by Keevers this season, and won one and drew one last season.
"He's turned this game into WWE and it's not football," Diles said.
"He lets rugby challenges go, lets AFL challenges go, and then in the end, there's a slight contact and he calls a foul.
"So there's no consistency there. And you're talking about a big game - I think you put your best referees in the big games."
Kisnorbo wasn't buying into it.
"I'm sure if the result was different, I'm sure the answer would have been different to your question," the Sydney boss said.
Interim boss Kisnorbo was facing the Victory for the first time after leaving the club just seven ALM games into a three-year deal to join Yokohama F. Marinos in December 2024.
Kisnorbo, who relished the reunion, will lead Sydney into a home semi-final first leg against Newcastle next Saturday, then play the premiers away in the second leg.
"We really dug in there when it was difficult. We showed a lot of resilience, which I'm very happy for," he said.
It was a crushing defeat for Arthur Diles's Victory, who will hope the loss doesn't mark Juan Mata's final game.
The 38-year-old is out of contract at season's end, as is Diles.
With Al Hassan Toure out injured, Kisnorbo turned to 16-year-old Akol Akon to start.
Sydney goalkeeper Harrison Devenish-Meares was magnificent, denying Nishan Velupillay and Charles Nduka on multiple occasions.
Sydney supporters went into ecstasy when Wood seized his moment, just three minutes after entering the fray.
"I don't think the best team won, but that's football," Diles said.
"In the end, we've made one mistake."
17°C