Muscat to be hit hard for tackle

Kevin Muscat’s A-League career could be over after the charge for the Melbourne Victory skipper’s tackle on Adrian Zahra was referred to the disciplinary committee.

The decision, made by the league’s match review panel, means the former Socceroo is likely to cop a suspension of six weeks or greater.

Muscat was given a straight red card for the challenge on Zahra in the 80th minute of Saturday’s city derby against Melbourne Heart at Etihad Stadium, and as such the match review panel could have imposed a further sanction on the 37-year-old.

However, under MRP policy, if they believe the offence warrants a sanction of more than an additional four weeks – on top of the one-match mandatory suspension for the red card – then a disciplinary committee hearing, set down for this Thursday, must be convened.

With Victory having just four matches left in the regular season and looking unlikely to play a major role in the finals – given they are currently placed fifth – it could mean that Muscat has played his last game in the A-League.

Any suspension not served in the A-League would carry over into the AFC Champions League, where Melbourne play at least six matches.

Former Wolverhampton, Rangers, Millwall and Crystal Palace defender Muscat is expected to retire at season’s end, meaning his farewell appearance is likely to be in the ACL.

It was the second match in succession that Muscat had received a red card and he admitted on Sunday during an apology for the tackle that perhaps the pace of the game was passing him by.

“I’m going to have to sit here and accept full responsibility for it,” he said.

“It was an incident that I deeply regret, it was a mistimed tackle, dreadfully mistimed, (and) at no point did I have any intent to injure the player.”

“Unfortunately I mistimed a tackle terribly, and maybe the game is telling me that it’s passed me by, but I haven’t given it any thought.”

Meanwhile, Sydney FC goalkeeper Liam Reddy has been handed a two-match ban for his clash with Matt Simon in Sunday’s 2-2 draw with Central Coast at Gosford.

The MRP determined that Reddy’s actions had escaped the attention of the referee and it therefore had the authority to punish the shot-stopper.