"No. No, I didn’t [receive any contact]. I think the way it was, Hoffy was just on the ground and I was just trying to get the ball [from] him and he might have misconstrued me, stepping over to do something.

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"He didn’t really make contact with me and if the ref would have come over to me and said, ‘Look Brandon, is it a sending-off do you think?' I would have told him that no it wasn’t. Because he didn’t make any contact with me. The ref made the decision and that’s football. I can’t control that but I personally don’t think it was a red card."

O'Neill was surprised to see Hoffman given his marching orders in the 73rd minute, having turned his back to return to his position after what he described as a non-incident.

"Unfortunately if you’re on your back and your foot’s raised it probably doesn’t look good," he said. "Whether there was intent there or not, I’m not really sure … personally, I don’t think there was much in it."

The Jets will decide on Monday whether or not to appeal Hoffman's mandatory one-match ban with coach Ernie Merrick suggesting it's a matter for club chief Lawrie McKinna, not the football department.

Meanwhile, Sydney FC defender Jacob Tratt faces a stint on the sideline after suffering a groin injury early in Saturday's game. Tratt could be out for a few weeks, according to coach Steve Corica.

While a blow for the club, Sydney FC were boosted by the return of Ben Warland, who made his first appearance of the season after suffering a long-term foot injury during pre-season. Warland came on for Tratt in the seventh minute to help the Sky Blues to their first clean sheet at Kogarah.

"I’m very pleased with the defence. It think they had one shot or two shots on target, which is a credit to our game. Especially Benny Warland, who’s been out for four-and-a-half months and he’s only played 60 minutes [in the youth team] and he had to step in and he did a great job. We should have scored more goals and finished the game off," Corica said.

Versatile defender and midfielder Paulo Retre is set to come back from a minor groin injury to face Wellington Phoenix midweek, bolstering Sydney's options at fullback, while Milos Ninkovic will return after missing the Jets' match due to illness.