Adelaide United coach Guillermo Amor declined to respond to rival Kevin Muscat’s taunts about Isaias’s involvement in referee Peter Green’s 72nd-minute red-carding of Melbourne Victory captain Leigh Broxham which sparked an otherwise dour 0-0 draw between the A-League’s bitter rivals at Adelaide Oval.
MATCH REPORT: Reds and Victory finish all square
GALLERY: Adelaide United v Melbourne Victory
Muscat accused Isaias of habitually hitting the deck in ‘every challenge’ while beleving the Reds were blatantly trying to draw fouls throughout the evening.
The Victory coach also believed Green’s decision to send Broxham off was both soft and wrong, but Amor played a straight bat after sharing the points on his A-League coaching debut.
“As a rule I prefer not to judge the performance of referees,” the former Barcelona stalwart and Spanish international said.
“It’s obvious that they are human beings and try to do a good job.
“They call it as they see it – obviously they can make mistakes.
“Sometimes they give you something, sometimes they take away advantages from you.
“If a player feels pain or is injured, it’s logical for him to stay down.
“I couldn’t see the tackle properly. I can’t really tell what happened.
“He might have deserved other cards at other moments but the umpire decided not to give it to him.”
Amor was full of praise for young goalkeeper John Hall, whose quick-thinking parry of Gui Finkler’s sharp shot was literally a match-saver after the young custodian had weathered some earlier nervous moments, filling the sizeable shoes of skipper Eugene Galekovic (away on national duties).
The first-year coach gave Hall a high pass mark.
“Good test for him,” Amor said.
“It was not the best time for him to have his first game (start) ever.
“You need to remember the circumstance surrounding his first game – a difficult field, the level of competition.
“But all things considered it’s been a tough test for him but a test that he has passed with a high grade.”
The season-opening Adelaide Oval experiment done and dusted, Amor is looking forward to returning the comfortable western suburbia confines of Coopers Stadium, where United host the Western Sydney Wanderers this Friday night.
Amor feels instant confidence will return with the shift to the Reds’ traditional home base,.
“It goes without saying that Hindmarsh is our field, it’s our audience, our public” he said.
“It’s a beautiful stadium (and) the conditions are really good.
“Obviously it’s always a difficult stadium to play for our rivals.
“We always have pretty good results there and we are looking forward to playing there.”
