THE Football Association will wait to see if referee Kevin Wright includes the unsavoury scenes at the end of Middlesbrough’s victory at Huddersfield Town in his report before deciding if any punishment follows.

With tension high at the John Smith’s Stadium following a dramatic finish in which Grant Leadbitter slotted away a stoppage-time winner from the penalty spot, there is understood to have been an incident inside the tunnel as the players headed back to the dressing room.

Neither manager was prepared to go into detail about the bust-up on Saturday, but it is claimed that stewards and officials had to step in.

Now the FA are awaiting the referee’s report before deciding whether to launch an investigation, which would determine if both clubs have failed to keep their players under control.

Aitor Karanka, the Middlesbrough boss, whose side travel to Cardiff City tomorrow night, said: “I don’t know what happened because I didn’t see anything.”

And Terriers’ boss Chris Powell said: “I heard there was a situation (in the tunnel afterwards) but I had already gone into the dressing room.”

The sour end was the final instalment of an entertaining afternoon which had an edge from the moment Huddersfield’s James Vaughan escaped with a caution when he lunged in late after goalkeeper Dimi Konstantopoulos had gathered a heavy first touch from the forward.

That came in the 18th minute and led to the official having to talk to the two captains – Leadbitter and Lee Peltier – when the players came together seconds later.

Boro regained their composure and after Leadbitter had powered in an unstoppable free-kick nine minutes before half-time, Huddersfield never looked like getting back in to it.

But Jon Stead did equalise against the run of play and Leadbitter stroked in the winner to give Boro the advantage again, ending a run of back-to-back league defeats after a first outing for debutants Jelle Vossen and Patrick Bamford. Vossen, introduced as a second half substitute following his season long loan move from Genk, said: “The Championship is as hard as I expected. I thought the level would be harder than Belgium, especially the physical side of it. I expected the defenders to be strong and they are. I have to adapt to that.

“As a new player it is a good thing to see that the team came back to score a winner like we did. To concede a goal in the 86th minute that made it difficult, but we all wanted to win the first game with so many new players.

“We showed the fighting spirit to get that goal, so it was amazing. It was a clear penalty and it’s all about getting that winning mentality now. The lads told me that not every game is like this but it was a nice game, with a lot of emotion.

“I saw a team fighting for every ball, every tackle. We have a lot of good players who can play good football with a lot of technique. I think we look a very complete team.”

Vossen, who thinks he is fit enough to start at Cardiff tomorrow if Karanka decides to call on him, could even have scored on his debut had his strike from the edge of the area been on target.

He said: “It was brilliant to get the reception I did from the travelling fans (3,500). It gave me goosebumps. It was brilliant and hopefully I can give the fans something back while I am here.

“Everybody went home happy and we are all confident for the next game at Cardiff. It was brilliant to see more than 3,000 people for an away game. It helped to give us something extra. It was brilliant for me because we took the three points. We could have finished the game earlier had we got that second goal.

“It’s a pity my shot just went a few centimetres wide because it was a good shape and shot. It was a pity but at least we won the game and we can look forward to the next one.”