Star Western United striker Besart Berisha has incited a heated scuffle during his side's 3-0 A-League loss to Perth Glory at HBF Park.
First-half strikes from Chris Ikonomidis and Bruno Fornaroli, followed by Joel Chianese's 77th-minute goal, saw Glory take all three points in Wednesday night's match.
Tempers threatened to boil over during several moments of the combustible clash.
And Berisha finally went over the edge following Chianese's second-half goal.
Berisha argued angrily with several Glory players just before the restart.
And when play got under way again, Berisha felled 21-year-old Glory midfielder Callum Timmins with a furious off-the-ball shove.
The incident sparked a push-and-shove among players, with Berisha and Glory goalkeeper Liam Reddy grabbing hold of each other while other players joined the scuffle.
Both received a yellow card, with Western United coach Mark Rudan subbing off Berisha soon after.
"Look, Besart's a competitor, I'm a competitor, and when that happens, sometimes it gets fiery," Reddy told Fox Sports.
"He's a good professional, he's been a top goalscorer in this competition, and we did well to keep him to zero tonight."
Western United captain Alessandro Diamanti hinted that Timmins had flared tempers.
"The reason is that some young guys have to understand (they need give) respect to old guys, to understand the respect for this game. Sometimes the coach has to teach ... the young guys," Diamanti told Fox Sports.
Western United's third loss on the trot leaves them three points adrift of sixth spot.
Glory's second straight win means they are now six points adrift of sixth spot and still in the finals hunt.
Rudan's men were keen to bounce back from last week's 5-0 humiliation at the hands of Western Sydney, but they struggled for fluency against Glory in the first half.
Fornaroli opened the scoring in the 10th minute with a curling 25-yard free kick that struck the top right hand corner of the net.
And it was 2-0 in the 23rd minute when Ikonomidis squeezed a shot through the legs of goalkeeper Ryan Scott at the near post.
Scott should have done better with his effort, but what infuriated Rudan was the fact that Glory striker Andy Keogh was in an offside position in the lead-up.
Keogh, realising he was offside, took himself out of the play so that teammate Josh Rawlins could run onto the ball.
The moment of confusion saw Western United's defenders tune out momentarily, and Rudan argued with the fourth official that the goal should have been disallowed.
The visitors dominated large patches of the second half but they couldn't find a way through.
Chianese came off the bench and combined brilliantly in a one-two with Carlo Armiento to fire home the sealer midway through the second half.
Australian Associated Press
