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Cape Town - Stoke boss Mark Hughes was left unimpressed with Troy Deeney following a late altercation during his side's 1-0 away win over Watford on Saturday.
Darren Fletcher's 16th minute goal looked to have all but settled the tie at Vicarage Road.
But with the match winding down, and Stoke having kicked the ball out of play for an injury, Deeney, upon receiving the ball, set to cross for his team-mates instead of returning the ball to Stoke.
Joe Allen blocked the delivery and squared up to Deeney who then grabbed Allen around the neck and face.
Surprisingly though, both players were only yellow carded, with Hughes telling Sky Sports after the game: "We're a little bit disappointed with Troy Deeney and his reaction.
"Obviously we've kicked the ball out because there were injured players, and they should've given the ball back to us, but they shaped up to put it in our box - which was not in the spirit of the game, and that's why our players reacted. It's not pleasant when you see that.
"He's grabbing him by the face, it's not what you want to see. As I say, our reaction is understandable because we were the aggrieved party, but it hasn't covered him in any kind of good light, in my view.
"I think we need to avoid situations like that, and he brought it on himself really."
On his side's overall play, Hughes added: "It was a great performance as an away side. Tactically, we got it spot on.
"It was very difficult to break us down, and I just think we understood what they were going to do. We had a game plan to negate their threats, and they ran out of ideas in the end. Over the course of 90 minutes, we had the better chances.
"We've had a little bit of criticism, and rightly so. Certainly against Man City, we didn't put in an accomplished performance.
"We got it out of our systems this week, and I thought we were excellent. It's been a tough period of fixtures, but for like-for-like results, we are six points better than we were last year against the same teams.
"Everybody says we're under pressure, thinking we're not doing very well. Well, actually we're doing exceptionally well."
