Valkanis surprisingly started the veteran full-back in the centre of defence against the ladder leaders, relegating Ruon Tongyik to the bench.

Muscat conceded the penalty for Sydney’s opener, where he was arguably fortunate not to be sent off for a last-man tackle.

The 32-year-old then tugged Alex Brosque’s shirt earning him a second yellow card when scores were 1-1 before half-time, leaving City a man down.

“Manny has played back there before and he’s played well,” Valkanis told Fox Sports.

“We’re not going to criticise any individual. He’s a member of the squad, an experienced player.

“That’s football, sometimes mistakes are made. We make decisions and that’s the way it goes.

“Ruon has got a good future and he’s a good player as well.

“We’re not going to put any blame on (Manny). Up until the red card we were very good.

“We’ll pick up the pieces, we’ll look at what we did wrong afterwards and what we can improve on with 10 men. We keep going forwards.”

Valkanis reiterated his game plan was going perfectly until his side were reduced to 10 men.

“I thought up until the red card we were very good,” Valkanis said.

“Up until the penalty we were in control, whether with the ball or without the ball, we were in good control of the game.

“The plan was going perfectly the way we’d set it.

“The red card we weren’t expecting that. Going in to the second half we had to change things up a little bit and then you cop a free-kick from outside the box which makes things a little bit harder.

“Then we tried to open up a little bit and Sydney is a very good team. They won 3-1 and there’s nothing we can say.”