Brighton manager Gus Poyet revealed he considered leaving the Amex Stadium early after the home side had two players sent off in the first half of their 1-0 defeat to Burnley.
Poyet cut a frustrated figure for most of the afternoon, after referee Craig Pawson showed straight red cards to Roman Vincelot and Ashley Barnes inside the opening 12 minutes.
Thereafter, Poyet displayed his apparent dismay and, after seeing Craig Noone upended with no punishment for his opponent, he threw his jacket to the turf before storming down the tunnel.
The Uruguayan later reappeared behind the press box, during which time Kieran Trippier scored the decisive goal with a crisp right-footed strike from 20 yards after 32 minutes.
Poyet then returned to the dugout, but admitted later: “If the car park was open, I was ready to go home.
“I don’t want to comment on the sending off incidents, it’s up to the club whether they want to take it further, but I’m not, because I don’t want to spend any money.
“Some people in games like this may lose their jobs. It was a really bad day at the office.”
Brighton went into the game with the worst disciplinary record in the Championship, but Poyet hit back, adding: “In games involving Brighton, we’ve had 59 yellow cards against 60 by our opponents. We’ve also had 100 fouls less than the opposition.”
Despite playing the majority of the match with nine men, Brighton stayed in the game, and Craig Mackail-Smith was only denied a late equaliser when David Edgar cleared off the line.
“I don’t remember, either as a player or manager, being involved in a game where I have been up against nine men,” Poyet said.
“But we knew we could get a point out of it. We had the best chance of the game late on. If we had got a point from the match, it would have been outstanding.”