A Manny Muscat blunder led to Jamie Maclaren’s opener (38’) before it was cancelled out by Nicolas Colazo (54’) sparking a verbal stoush between the two coaches.

City made six changes to the starting XI that won the FFA Cup mid-week and had to wait until the second half to restore parity.

Colazo scored his first A-League goal in controversial circumstances with defender Jade North lying prone on the pitch behind play.

Replays showed North went down under minimum contact to the face from Bruno Fornaroli and was MIA when needed to defend the equaliser.

Tempers had been simmering all game but really hit the boil when City keeper Dean Bouzanis celebrated the team's goal in front of the Roar bench.

The shot-stopper got a yellow card for his troubles and ignited an ugly war of words between Brisbane coach John Aloisi and his City counterpart John van 't Schip.

There were plenty of verbals in the pre-match build-up, with Aloisi questioning City's physicality and van 't Schip calling his former assistant coach a whinging baby.

This time the fourth official had to step in, with the coaches warned against further infractions.

The result sees City move within three points of league leaders Sydney FC, who are still to play, while Roar move equal on points with third place Victory, who have a game in hand.

In a see-sawing match Maclaren had a hatful of chances to score and squandered a golden opportunity when a perfectly weighted ball into the box found the Socceroo, but his final shot was mishit.

Jack Hingert almost caught Bouzanis off his line after a shot from 30m out forced the goalkeeper to tip it out for a corner.

With 10 minutes remaining in the first half, Muscat’s cross found Anthony Caceres in the box and his final header hit the crossbar.

Roar hit the front three minutes later as Thomas Broich’s cross was poorly controlled by Muscat leaving Maclaren to finish off.

In the 41st minute, Michael Theo pulled off a double save as Fornaroli’s free kick bounced off the goalkeeper to Brattan whose follow-up effort was denied. On the brink of half-time Colazo had a stunning strike beaten away again by Theo.

The ill-feeling spilled over into the break as Theo caught up with Fornaroli in the tunnel. 

Back on the pitch, where the action was sometimes secondary, Colazo made his second chance stick, scoring from close range.

Roar settled the quicker after the ensuing fracas, and looked like taking the lead with 20 minutes remaining as Corey Brown’s cross found Maclaren, forcing a save from Bouzanis.

The game was begging for a winner, and Fornaroli’s rabona cross found Caceres but his shot was again denied by Theo.

In the 82nd minute Tim Cahill, who scored the Cup winner for City just 72 hours earlier, was brought on but there was to be no grandstand finish.

It finished all square at full time. Aloisi spoke to Fornaroli immediately after the final whistle as both coaches acknowledged each other briefly.

Roar return home next Sunday to take on bottom of the table Adelaide United while City engage in their FFA Cup Final rematch against high-flying Sydney FC.