Victory were leading 1-0 in the 64th minute when Allsopp and Robert Cornthwaite were involved in an incident off the ball inside the Reds' goalmouth, with the usually-reserved Galekovic becoming animated as he called on the linesman to intervene.

Knocked down in a subsequent scuffle straight afterwards, Allsopp retreated towards halfway and was chased by Galekovic, who shoved Carlos Hernandez out of the way in order to get in Allsopp's face.

Referee Matthew Breeze, who had sent Reds striker Cristiano from the field in just the 10th minute for a wayward elbow on Rody Vargas, then consulted the linesman and dismissed Allsopp.

And while the Victory held on, a disappointed Galekovic said afterwards he had reacted so strongly because he felt Cristiano's dismissal was heavily influenced by Melbourne skipper Kevin Muscat.

"Well I saw his (Allsopp's) head go towards Cornthwaite's head and it was clearly a headbutt from where I was and a lot of the (Adelaide) boys saw it," Galekovic said.

"If you look at Cristiano's incident, Muscy (Muscat) ranted on with the linesman and I think Muscy got Cristiano sent off and I think the referee was just trying to equal it up."

Officially given his marching orders for violent conduct, Allsopp is likely to have his mandatory one-match suspension increased significantly when the Match Review Panel meets to go over the game.