Defender Rhys Williams awaited his fate in the first half after he chopped down Osama Malik, resulting in the City man being substituted.

The VAR caused some delay to the game before the Socceroo was presented with a yellow card and Joyce, who has spent time with some of the biggest clubs in England, was still getting used to it.

The introduction of the system has been a huge talking point in the A-League and the City boss confessed it was “new" to him.

“The referee has got there and they’ve got to make decisions on what they see really,” he said.

“These things, stopping and waiting for somebody to make a decision, I find that strange really.

 “If you’re 10 yards from the incident, your job is to make decisions. If you’re there on the pitch, you can see a close call and if there was any intent, and what kind of tackle it was.”

Less confusing was Malik’s replacement, Marcin Budzinski, who scored the opener just minutes after coming on. City’s win makes it two from two and puts them on top of the ladder, while Victory have recorded rare back-to-back home losses.

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Victory coach Kevin Muscat felt his side was unlucky not to get a point but Joyce disagreed.

“We had the best chances of the game, more clinical finishing and even better quality passes in the final third around the box,” he said.

“Their goal was a poor goal, it was from our corner and it was a breakaway goal.

“Really, goals like that should be avoidable so it was a disappointing goal to concede and apart from that I’m not sure they had that many shots on goal.”

Joyce said Luke Brattan missed out on selection following a knock on Friday, while Neil Kilkenny had a back injury, but both players would be in the mix to play next Saturday when City face Wellington Phoenix at home.