Warriors coach Andrew Webster has taken aim at referee Gerard Sutton following a bizarre first half incident which turned out to prove incredibly costly in the Warriors’ 10-8 loss to Cronulla.

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17 minutes in, the Warriors conceded a shot clock penalty when Chanel Harris-Tavita failed to take a drop out before the shot clock buzzer rang out around Go Media Stadium.

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This left Harris-Tavita confused, who thought he had a few more seconds up his sleeve.

Two seconds before the buzzer sounded, referee Gerard Sutton was clearly heard yelling out “five seconds” as a warning to Harris-Tavita.

Sutton then ruled penalty on hearing the buzzer before responding to the complaints from Warriors players who went by Sutton’s five second warning.

“You said five seconds,” Egan said.

“That’s not my problem. If the buzzer goes and you haven’t kicked it, it’s a penalty,” Sutton responded.

Webster and Egan explained post-game that Harris-Tavita had asked Sutton how much time he had left as the screens at the ground were showing an advertisement instead of the running shot clock.

Confusion over BIZARRE shot clock pen | 00:44

“It was a dropout. Chanel says to the referee there was an advertisement on the screen. He says, ‘Ref, how long have I got? I can’t see the clock’. He says, ‘You’ve got five seconds’,” Webster said.

“He kicks it in two and as he’s kicking it, the siren goes off, blows his whistle, gives a penalty, two points straight in front. And then they question, and he says, ‘Not my fault’.

“So (it) gifted them two points because professionalism around they don’t even know how long to go.

Webster then sarcastically pointed out that Harris-Tavita was robbed of an extra three seconds because of Sutton’s incorrect warning.

Harris-Tavita and Egan question the penalty.Source: FOX SPORTS

“When you ask the question, because you can’t see it on the clock, and the response is, ‘You’ve got five seconds’, and you kick it in two … I never blow up. That’s embarrassing,” he said.

“If the referee tells you you’ve got five seconds and you kick it in two. Five minus two is three. They’ve got three seconds left … when the referee tells you that, and then he’s the one that penalises you, surely common sense is let’s do a re-do there. Something’s gone wrong, or you say just play on. Common sense.”

“I don’t know what happened. It went to a different screen or something. So we were watching the clock. It went off the screen, couldn’t see it. And then obviously Chanel told me that he asked the ref how long was left and he said five seconds, and then he kicked it in two seconds … it was confusion,” Egan explained.

While it may not have seemed it at the time, the two points the Sharks added would be the difference in the end.

Sharks upset Wahs in thrilling finish! | 03:00

The Warriors had a chance to tie the game up at 10 and send it into golden point, but Adam Pompey missed a penalty goal as time expired.

Webster isn’t a coach which usually looks for excuses or points out refereeing decisions, but the shot clock faux pas left him more than unimpressed.

“The Sharks were awesome tonight. Both teams were awesome. But you just don’t need this … if someone makes a bad refereeing decision or a call, they thought it was forward and it wasn’t, that stuff happens. But when we can’t even get the game clock right, I don’t know, that’s just the most unprofessional thing for the game I’ve ever seen,” Webster said.