Melbourne Victory goalkeeper Courtney Newbon believes Claudia Bunge was hard done by after the defender received a straight red card in a 3-1 loss to Canberra.
And in Sunday's other match, 17-year-old Pia Vlok became the second youngest player to score an A-League Women hat-trick in Wellington's 5-1 demolition of Newcastle.
Victory centre back Bunge was sent off in the 32nd minute, but the visitors were still able to take a shock lead early in the second half through Kennedy White.
Their joy was short lived, with Canberra slotting three goals in 13 minutes to seal all three points in front of their home fans at McKellar Park.
The equaliser came in the 62nd minute when Sasha Grove put away her shot after Josie Aulicino's initial strike had rocketed off the upright.
Canberra hit the lead just a minute after the restart when Mary Stanic-Floody, who had only just been subbed on, received a pass from Michelle Heyman and unleashed a 24-yard floater.
And it was effectively game over in the 75th minute when defender Tegan Bertolissio rose high to head home at the far post from a corner.
The result catapulted Canberra (21 points) from sixth to third on the ladder, while Victory (17 points) remain in seventh.
Bunge was given a straight red after her shove on Michelle Heyman was deemed to have denied an obvious goalscoring opportunity.
Heyman was about to run onto her teammate's pass about 35m out from goal before she was bundled over.
But the red card was somewhat controversial given Victory defender Kayla Morrison was running back hard and would have been in a decent position to block Heyman's path towards goal.
"I don't think she was last man," Newbon told Paramount.
"We tried our best. We were a man down for a while. Everyone had a bit of heart at least until the end, and we took it to them - we scored first."
In Newcastle, Vlok scored in the 10th, 15th and 64th minutes to headline Wellington's demolition job on the ninth-placed Jets.
At 17 years, four months and 28 days, she became the second youngest player to score a hat-trick, behind only Tara Andrews, who was 16 years and 301 days old when she achieved the feat in 2011.
Vlok scored the first two goals of the match with low drives from outside the box.
Emma Pijnenburg made it 3-0 in the 20th minute, and it was 4-0 in the 24th when Ellie Walker produced a sharp flick.
Vlok put the icing on the cake in the 64th minute when she raced forward while holding off an opponent before cutting on to her left to nail her shot.
Play stopped in the 88th minute due to a lightning storm, and the referee eventually called an early end to the match without players having to go back on, given the result was beyond doubt.
