Four players were red-carded - including three Phoenix players - as the Wellington-based football side lost a spiteful A-League pre-season match 1-3 to the Newcastle Jets at Weston, near Canberra.
The Phoenix were up 1-0 midway through the first half when Brazilian Tiago Calvano committed a hard foul on Manny Muscat, who retaliated with a punch. Players ran from all parts of the field to join in and when rookie referee Tim Gilchrist had finished wielding his red card, Muscat, Calvano and Phoenix defender Ben Sigmund were all back in the dugouts.
Wellington were further reduced to eight men when captain Andrew Durante after the break, when he also retaliated to a physical tackle from Scott Neville, with the Jets defender also yellow carded.
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Meanwhile, unsurprisingly, the short-handed Kiwi side had lost the early lead it earned when Paul Ifill stole the ball off Neville and crossed into the path of Alex Smith, who prodded the ball home on the right post.
With an extra man, Newcastle levelled just before halftime through Craig Goodwin and took the lead when Goodwin was again on target just after the restart.
With the Phoenix now down three players, sub Marko Jesic provided the Jets' third goal from close range.
Wellington are on their way to India for a pre-season tour, but now face the prospect of losing some of their roster to automatic two-match suspensions, depending on how Football Australia judiciary view evidence - the referee's report and video - from this match tomorrow.