Banri Kanaizumi was handed a straight red card in the 47^th minute for dragging down Kyle Cimenti a metre outside the penalty box.

It's a decision that changed a game that was evenly poised, the teams locked at nil-all when he was marched from the field.

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Sydney United quickly took control, captain Adrian Vlastelica scoring the winner 10 minutes later.

Senna Stevenson's game came to an end in the 80^th minute after receiving a second yellow card following a contested header.

While most agree the decisions were correct, Wollongong were frustrated after United players were not booked for hard fouls.

Wolves coach Luke Wilkshire has long been disappointed with the refereeing in the NSW NPL and that continued on Sunday.

He did, however, urge his players to ensure referees are not the deciding factor in their matches.

"It is what it is," Wilkshire said. "Different season, same s***. There were some disappointing decisions.

"We have to control the controllables. The refereeing is no excuse. We have to take matters into our own hands and take it away from what they can do. We have to be cleverer about the way we play."

For skipper Guy Knight the inconsistency was noticeable on the field.

While both teams were physical throughout the contest, the Wolves felt the 50-50 decisions went United's way.

"We're pretty disappointed," Knight said. "We've worked pretty hard since September for that game. A couple of cheap red cards I don't think we deserved and that's what happens.

"Against a team like that, you can't play with nine men and we didn't have enough chances and we didn't do enough going forward."

The Wolves dominated the opening 20 minutes, new recruits Kuot Maliot and Josh Macdonald generating a number of chances.

Maliot was dragged down on a counter attack in the seventh minute, the Wolves calling for a red card. Instead, Yianni Fragogiannis only received a yellow.

The veteran could have received a second yellow card early in the second half, the referee refraining.

Down a man, and later two, the visitors were forced to scramble defensively, Nick Littler and Nikola Djordjevic solid at the back.

Goalkeeper Hayden Durose was also superb, keeping Wollongong in the contest with some brilliant saves.

To only lose 1-0 was a solid effort. That, however, did not make up for the disappointment of defeat.

"We lost," Wilkshire said. "It's not the start to the season we wanted. There's a lot of things to be disappointed in that performance.

"There's definitely things we can do better. We scrambled defensively well. It's a hard place to go with 11 players, let alone to go to 10 for most of the second half and then to nine, it makes it a difficult game."

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