Saturday night's enthralling A-League Men match at AAMI Park delivered four goals, but more talking points.
Marco Tilio brilliantly gave City the lead in the fifth minute but a contentious penalty allowed Zinedine Machach to equalise in first-half added-time.
In-form Brazilian winger Santos put Victory in front with a wonderful goal in the 48th minute, before Kai Trewin levelled from the penalty spot in the 70th.
Vidmar felt his charges "threw it away" while Diles considered a draw a fair result.
Five days after Macarthur skipper Valere Germain quit, with Bulls officials citing poor refereeing standards, both coaches were frustrated by the decisions.
The most notable was Victory's equalising penalty.
Santos forced a big save from Patrick Beach and when Nikos Vergos attempted to pounce on the ball, German Ferreyra clipped his heel and Vergos hit the deck.
After a VAR review, referee Jonathan Barreiro awarded a penalty, which Machach converted.
"I don't know how the hell that is a penalty," Vidmar said.
"I don't know where the game is going. If that is a penalty, then we're in trouble.
"Well, it wasn't a penalty. Simple.
"If we're giving penalties for that, then the officiating needs to have a good look at themselves, to be honest. Clearly not a penalty."
Diles said: "Well, there's contact there, so it's contact, it's in the box, it's from behind, so for me, it's a clear pen."
When asked if Barreiro struggled to handle the occasion, Diles said: "You'd have to ask him.
"Big occasions, I think they should always put the best referees to ref these big occasions and that's always a reward for the best referees.
"I don't know if that was the case."
Vidmar was incensed by the failure to send off Victory skipper Roderick Miranda when he shoved Andreas Kuen and caught him in the face on 54 minutes.
"He gets an open hand to the face and it's not a red card," Vidmar said.
Both players were carded, while Kuen was arguably lucky not to receive a second yellow for knocking over Miranda shortly after.
Surprisingly, Miranda avoided a second booking for giving away a penalty on Aziz Behich later in the match.
"He gives him a yellow, then he delays play a few minutes later - so that's not a second yellow," Vidmar said.
"Then he gives away the penalty - so that should be a yellow."
Diles noted Victory didn't receive a penalty for a Nathaniel Atkinson handball in the 12th minute, and Trewin was lucky to escape with a booking in the 44th minute after catching Santos with his studs.
"Everyone's seen that been given a red many times this year - so we can talk about a lot of those decisions to be fair, it wasn't just for them," Diles said.
Victory sit third on the table with 29 points, one ahead of Western Sydney and City, whose derby winless run extends to eight games.
Brendan Hamill was a late withdrawal for recruit Lachlan Jackson but Diles was confident the defender wouldn't be sidelined for long.
Victory next travel to face Brisbane on Saturday while City face Wellington away on Friday.
