PHIL Parkinson accused a Leeds United player of squirting a water bottle at his midfielder Joe Williams – sparking a touchline brawl which saw the Bolton boss sent to the stands.

Parkinson picked up their third red card of his managerial career at Wanderers in the second half at Elland Road when a touchline challenge by Josh Magennis on Ezgjan Alioski caused tempers to flare.

Staff and players from both sides swarmed towards the dugouts – but ref Tony Harrington ordered Parkinson off the touchline, much to the manager’s confusion.

“There was a brawl where we were stood just outside the technical area and every member of both benches was over trying to separate and the ref came over and sent me off,” he said after the game.

“I am going to ask the ref why their manager was not sent off because he was outside the technical area doing the same, so were all their staff. No-one could see that escalating into a brawl.

“One of their players poured a bottle of water over Joe Williams’s head and that kind of started it. Nobody got booked for it and the fourth official didn’t see it.”

Alioski had just minutes earlier beaten Remi Matthews with a long-range effort to make the score 2-1 in what proved a stormy encounter.

Patrick Bamford scored his third goal against Bolton this season to put Leeds ahead but Mark Beevers quickly pounced to even the scores.

Both sides created chances but the home side kept their nerve after Parkinson’s red card to go second in the Championship, with a game in hand on leaders Norwich City.

“I think right from the first minute when Jason Lowe did a terrific tackle and got booked, things were going on all afternoon. I suppose, really, this is an intimidating place. But I don’t think we got a great deal,” Parkinson fumed.

“Out of 20 staff and a bit of a melee the ref has seen fit to send me off and leave all their staff in place.

“We deserved something from that game. We had some good chances, from the very first minute. The game-plan worked well even though we fatigued a bit in the second half.

“The second goal hurt because it was a mistake (from Remi Matthews) and he’d pulled off some good saves in previous weeks. That has proved costly.

“The work-rate and what we asked the lads to do was right in place.

“I said if we came out of those two games within touching distance then we have a chance, well Rotherham and Reading have drawn, so we’re still in with a fighting chance.

“There are some good aspects to our play and we’ll take those into next week.”