Footballsouth Premier League matches suffered from several spats on Saturday, with no fewer than five red cards issued in three matches.
Grants Braes was the top culprit with three red cards in the match against Roslyn-Wakari at Ellis Park, where home team Roslyn-Wakari won 3-0.
Braes coach Alan Laidler would not comment, but he must be concerned since centreback Njoh Mpondo was also suspended recently for his second red of the season. However, Mpondo will be available for today's Chatham Cup tie.
Roslyn scorers James Govan and Aajay Cunningham hit their goals before the cards started flying, with referee Dave Langley tightening discipline as the match progressed.
At Sunnyvale, fans were still arriving when Justin Flaws was sent off early in the match between Green Island and Dunedin Technical match.
The Technical midfielder was involved in a scuffle that had referee Allan Martin flash a red, and the indignant Flaws was sent for an early shower.
However, Technical lifted its game, and coach Mike Fridge was proud of the team's hard work and patterned play, which had him re-counting players to see if Tech was really a man short.
‘‘It was one of our best performances this season,'' the Scotsman said, as Tech raced to a 2-0 lead thanks to striker Aaron Burgess and Alistair Rickerby.
Thoughts of a Green Island improvement were dashed when ace striker Burgess scored again to take his league tally to 11, and at 3-0 the result seemed safe.
But coach Malcolm Fleming had not read that script, and with nothing to defend, Green Island poured forward, with new signing Scott Gannon looking impressive and combining well with Cody Robinson and Joel Stevens.
In front of a noisy home crowd, the Island had Technical's defence scrambling, and after forcing an own goal, there were chances missed at both ends as both sides gave their all.
At Memorial Park, Mosgiel had a few regulars missing, notably veteran Phil Kelly, whose insatiable appetite for the game had taken him to Bangkok for an international masters competition.
Opposition University started with a hiss and a roar, carving past blue shirts, and alternating with patient build-ups.
Anthony Tarrant used his strength and pace to find space, then calmly shot the students into a 1-0 lead after 16 minutes.
However the students may have been blinded by their own brilliance, and squandered opportunities with feints and flicks that lost too much possession.
On the stroke of halftime, Mosgiel punished University's profligacy and a simple neat move featuring Luke Burgess was clinically finished by Morgan Day to tie the match after 45 minutes.
Not for the first time, Mosgiel midfielder Mike Abbott's passion for the game earned him a second-half red card from referee Peter Faithful, but the Plainsmen hung on for a welldeserved share of the points.
The result created a mid-table block of three teams on 12 points, Roslyn, Green Island and University trailing leader Technical and second-placed Caversham.
Queenstown heads for midtable after beating second-bottom Northern 2-0, and looking up from the bottom, Grants Braes may struggle to field a team after its spate of cards.
