Macarthur veteran Matt Jurman was left fuming after being on the receiving end of an ugly late tackle in the final play of his team's 2-1 loss to Western Sydney.
Macarthur went 1-0 up in the 56th minute of Sunday's A-League Men match through a calamitous own goal.
But second-half strikes to Nicolas Milanovic and Gabriel Cleur earned the Wanderers all three points.
Jurman was cut down in brutal fashion in the 10th minute of added time by Wanderers debutant Alaat Abdul-Rahman, who had only been on the field for a minute when he charged in and took down his opponent in a clumsy attempt to win the ball.
The referee blew full-time and handed Abdul-Rahman a yellow card, but an upset Jurman had to be held back by Wanderers players as he went in to remonstrate.
Other Macarthur players were also unhappy with the treatment dished out to their teammate, but tensions finally calmed down as an angry Jurman was led away.
Macarthur would have risen to third with a win, but the loss leaves them in seventh, equal on points with the eighth-placed Wanderers.
The Bulls hit the lead in the 56th minute following a comical mix-up in the Wanderers defence, with Anthony Pantazopoulos and Gabriel Cleur getting in each other's way as they attempted to clear a cross.
They could only watch hopelessly as the ball rebounded off them and over the line, with Pantazopoulos marked down for the own goal.
The Wanderers had VAR to thank for restoring parity in the 67th minute.
A beautiful dinked lob from Cleur that a running Milanovic finished off with a first-time volley was initially ruled offside.
But on review it was found that the back heel of Tomislav Uskok had kept Milanovic onside.
It was 2-1 to the Wanderers in the 77th minute when Cleur unleashed a long-range stunner that almost rendered Macarthur goalkeeper Filip Kurto unconscious.
Kurto's head struck the upright in his diving attempt to stop Cleur's curling strike, and he lay on the ground in pain before eventually getting to his feet and playing on.
It marked Cleur's first goal in what was his 43rd ALM game.
"I'm proud of the character they showed," Wanderers coach Alen Stajcic told Network Ten after the win.
"But there are certainly elements of the game I'm not so proud of.
"There's other games we haven't had that stroke of luck - today the millimetre call for the offside to go in (went for us).
"It's a game of fine margins sometimes. It can turn around a whole match, let alone a whole season."
Macarthur coach Mile Sterjovski said a Lawrence Thomas save to keep out a Harry Sawyer header proved the critical moment of the match.
"I think it was the turning point of the game," Sterjovski said of the save that denied Macarthur going 2-0 up in the 61st minute.
"The majority of the game I felt we deserved the win."
