Three Mariners players were sent off in the 4-1 loss against the previously winless Balmain Tigers – one for a second yellow (Jackson Fuda) and the remaining two for their role in a second half altercation (Duncan Logan and Nikki Spice).

Tigers’ Andrew Casali was also sent off for his role in the scuffle, bringing the red card total to four in a bitter clash at the Sydney United Sports Centre.

Mariners ended the match with just eight players on the field and the seventh loss of the season to their name.

What was already a tense match reached boiling point at the 70^th minute.

With the Mariners 3-1 down there was a promising moment for the Western men when Logan threatened to make a break down the left wing.

A foul was called for a Tigers defender pulling Logan back. The shirt tugging was an action the Mariners player quickly took offence to, sparking an all-in brawl.

Mariners captain Adam Scimone said the match was spiralling out of control before the incident.

“Everyone needs to own up to their mistakes, but the refereeing was very amateurish,” he said.

“It was really unfortunate and disappointing because a lot of those little fouls just weren’t going our way.

“Duncan made a break … and he beat his defender, but he kept pulling him back. The referee eventually blew the foul but by the time he did it was too late. If the referee controlled the game it wouldn’t have reached that boiling point.”

Things were looking up for the Mariners less than 20 minutes into the match when Jaiden Culbert once again found the back of the net.

Scores were levelled up again shortly after when Balmain’s Liam Cole struck a successful volley.

The man who provided Cole the assist, Rosario Occhipinti, found a goal of his own to have the Tigers up 2-1 at the break.

Within 10 minutes of the restart Balmain’s Stephen Hrysanthos was fouled inside the box and Occhipinti made no mistake from the spot to make it 3-1.

Fuda picked up his second yellow with another Mariners foul inside the penalty area but this time Brock Logan made the block for the Mariners.

Following the fracas Tigers made the most of their two-man advantage to score a fourth goal through Dario Vujovic.

“The sad thing for us was that after our opening goal we had two chances so it could have been two or three-nil for us,” Scimone said.

“We’ve got to move on quickly. The hard part is that we’ve now got three players out and several injured players.”