Speaking after a game which saw Sydney FC skipper Terry McFlynn red-carded for an ugly stomp on Suwon’s Sang-Ho Lee just after the half hour,  Japanese midfielder Hiro Moriyasu said the refereeing made it hard for the game to flow.

“Today when we tackled hard, he blew for fouls. But in the A-League that wouldn’t happen - it’s like play-on,” the Sky Blue man told au.fourfourtwo.com.

“I think that was what some players were struggling about today. Going hard and the ref will call a foul. It’s difficult.”

K-League teams have traditionally been some of the most physical sides in Asia and last night they didn’t shirk the contest.

McFlynn was wound-up by a hefty shove on him minutes before his red card in the 33th minute and the niggle continued throughout, although the game produced only two yellow cards both to the Koreans.

Together with Singapore referee Abdul Mailk Abdul Bashir whistle-happy performance the opening match day clash never reached any heights for the just over 7000 fans at the SFS.

Sydney’s new striker David Williams echoed Moriyasu’s view of the refereeing and added that the man in the middle has to understand football's a man's game. 

“I’ve got to be careful what I say in that sense … it was difficult to play a physical game," said Williams.

"It’s not a soft sport. If you can’t handle it in the right sense of the rules of the game then I think you’re in the wrong sport.

“There’s been a lot of controversy over Asian players diving … I think it’s ridiculous. Stand your ground. If you’re walking down a street and get tapped on the shoulder you’re not going to fall down.

“If Bruno [Cazarine] and Nicky [Carle] had fallen down we’d have probably got some free kicks, but that’s not the mentality of our players.

"The A-League is tough and competitive and a lot of the referees will let things go like that.  For us, we try to stay on our feet and let the game flow. You don’t want to be stop-start.”

While Williams was happy with the result given the red card, he maintained gamesmanship was a blight on the game.

“They fake it too much," he said. "They’ve got to rule it out of the game. It’s not football it takes away from it when there’s no flow in the game and that’s what you want, end-to-end exciting stuff.

“People come to be entertained and we try to give it to them but if the man in the middle is always stop-starting, it’s a bit disappointing.”

He added that both sides could've won the the match had it not been for profligate finishing.

“Ultimately it’s a game of football and not a game of referees’ decisions," he said. "We had our chances, they had theirs. If we can’t put them away it’s our fault.

"They [Suwon] are not all they’re talked up to be. They were lucky one of our players got a red card because we could’ve got a good result.”