Doncaster 1-1 Man City

Joey Barton sparked a brawl with a wild challenge

Joey Barton sparked a 10-man brawl as Manchester City were held to a draw by Doncaster in a bad-tempered friendly.

He was fortunate to stay on the field after taking several kicks at Paul Green as the Doncaster player tried to shield the ball while on the floor.

Coca-Cola League One side Doncaster had taken the lead through Leo Fortune-West after just two minutes.

City spared themselves embarrassment when Shaun Wright-Phillips equalised four minutes into the second half.

After Barton's flare-up there was a 10-minute spell when the game threatened to turn into a bloodbath.

Fortune-West and Jermaine McSporran were both booked for fouls on Barton, with Fortune-West catching him with a knee-high lunge.

Fortune-West was also was the first man into the scrap which erupted after the City man's original tackle and could count himself lucky his afternoon was ended by his manager rather than the referee.

City players Danny Mills, Steve McManaman and Richard Dunne all got embroiled in verbal spats with opposition players.

That at least proved manager Kevin Keegan's theory that City will be far more abrasive than they were during last season's dreadful Premiership campaign.

City fell behind inside two minutes when Fortune-West pounced on Wright-Phillips' ill-advised backpass, beat Geert de Vlieger, and slid his shot home from an acute angle.

Doncaster were worthy of their interval lead but having successfully shackled Wright-Phillips for the first 45 minutes he took just four more to atone for his earlier blunder, driving home the equaliser off a post after gliding into the box.

Though Wright-Phillips continued to threaten, City were otherwise toothless in attack despite the introduction of Robbie Fowler, Paul Bosvelt and Claudio Reyna.