Football Federation Australia has admitted the match officials erred in one of the crucial decisions that prompted Ernie Merrick's post-match tirade after Newcastle's 2-all draw with Western Sydney last Friday.

Merrick was issued with a "show cause" notice on Tuesday and given seven business days to explain why he should not face a code of conduct sanction for labelling the performances of referee Peter Green and video assistant referee Strebre Delovski "a disgrace".

Wrong call: Nikolai Topor-Stanley gave away a penalty against the Wanderers for handball, but the FFA has conceded the VAR was wrong to overturn the referee's original play-on call. Credit:AAP

Newcastle felt aggrieved after conceding two goals from dubious penalties, and having another disallowed when Jets defender Jason Hoffman was controversially ruled to have fouled Wanderers goalkeeper Vedran Janjetovic.

On the FFA's official website, in a video segment entitled "The Whistle", the governing body said Delovski had incorrectly overturned Green's decision to rule play-on after a handball incident involving Jets defender Nikolai Topor-Stanley.