O’Donovan netted the first goal early in the game, but a Vargas handball in the 25th minute saw him receive a second yellow card for dissent as Riley McGree converted the penalty.

City’s Luke Brattan would go on to score the second goal before half-time and O’Donovan believed the Venezuelan dismissal changed the game.

“I think it ruined the game for both teams,” O’Donovan told FTBL.

“It ruined it for the supporters and as a spectacle, it wasn’t the same, we had to sit deeper and it was difficult. I can only speak for my team and we gave a good account of ourselves and we could’ve come up with a point at least.

“I’m disappointed, obviously going down to 10-men. It was never going to be easy, but we had some chances and we were unlucky not to get some decisions our way and we can be proud of ourselves.”

Nikolai Topor-Stanley believed he should’ve been awarded a penalty by referee Kurt Ams and the Irishman agreed.

He added: “I reckon we could’ve had a penalty, but that’s not my job is it?”

O’Donovan has now scored three goals in four games since serving a 10-game ban for fly kick on Lawrence Thomas in the 2018 Grand Final.

He said he was still finding his feet, but was feeling good.

“It’s good to be back on the pitch, still getting that match sharpness a bit,” he said.

“I’d rather we won more games, but all you can do in football is move onto the next game, learn our lesson. We’ve got Victory next as well.

“I think we could be higher up the table, the last two weeks we played Adelaide United and Brisbane Roar at home. We dropped five points, but we did well. It’s only the scoring that matters and we’ll be fine, we’re playing OK and we’ll be there or thereabouts.”

Topor-Stanley also admitted they missed O’Donovan earlier in the season.

“He’s a natural number nine and is a target man. He makes those runs behind it and we missed him in the first eight rounds. It’s good to have him back,” Topor-Stanley conceded.