A-League Women: Former Canberra United chief Heather Reid baffled by 'harsh' APL points deduction as players keep top-four dream alive

Heather Reid, a legendary football administrator and Capital Football chief executive for 12 years, said she was "staggered" when she learned United's 2-1 win over Sydney FC four weeks ago had been deemed a 3-0 loss, with three points deducted over an alleged substitution error.

"I was quite staggered because I hadn't heard of anything like this before," Reid told The Canberra Times. "As far as I can see, it's a precedent.

"What we have seen in the elite men's competition is some pretty disgusting and inappropriate behaviour by spectators and to some extent players that have not incurred the same level of penalty as the three points deduction, and loss of the win."

United have since launched an appeal to the Australian Professional Leagues (APL) as they fight to sneak into the top-four on the A-League Women ladder to play finals football for the first time in two years.

However with only four games left in the regular season, United now face a tougher road to the finals, three points behind Melbourne Victory who hold fourth spot.

And Reid believes they've been hard done by.

"It is an unusual situation. As a first hit, on the disciplinary side of things, I think the loss of points is harsh," she said.

"I would have thought that maybe a fine and a warning might have been the first step, particularly if there was confusion around whether or not the fourth official had said 'yes, it's okay to make that substitution'."

Reid said substitution windows were not in place during her time at the helm of United, and this incident may have highlighted where the APL need to improve their sideline officiating processes.

"That whole communication between the match officials and the team staff clearly needs to be improved," she said.

"I'm sure it's been a massive distraction for the coaching staff and other support staff as they've worked through the process of responding to the show cause as well as putting together an appeals letter."

Despite the drama behind the scenes, Canberra's Kennedy Faulknor said the team are still eyeing a championship, and in the coming games there's added motivation with Michelle Heyman just six goals away from reaching an incredible mark of 100 league goals.

"She's been scoring a lot the last few games, just really putting the team on her back," Faulknor said.

"It's been amazing to be a part of this journey and to see how she carries herself as a professional and a person, she deserves those 100 goals."

Faulknor is confident the team can get the job done in Sydney this weekend having tasted success against the Wanderers in their last meeting.

"We're feeling good about this match," she said. "We know what to expect from them.

"We have to win pretty much every game to make it to the top-four. So I think we're ready for that challenge and excited to show what we can do.

"Everyone is playing with confidence and we want to keep that moving forward."

Western Sydney Wanderers v Canberra United at Wanderers Football Park, Sunday 4pm

Our journalists work hard to provide local, up-to-date news to the community. This is how you can continue to access our trusted content: