Sydney FC coach Steve Corica says it wasn't a great look when Melbourne Victory fans threw bottles at star striker Kosta Barbarouses during the Sky Blues' 3-0 win in the A-League on Sunday.
More than a dozen plastic bottles were hurled at Barbarouses when the New Zealand international was celebrating the goal that put doubled Sydney's lead.
Barbarouses played two seasons for Victory between 2017-19, and the fans were quick to unleash on him.
No Sydney players were struck by a bottle, but Corica said it was a dangerous situation.
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"They weren't too happy with Kosta, were they?" Corica said on Tuesday. "It's not great that they're throwing bottles and stuff like that, it's a little bit dangerous towards our players.
"An old player of theirs is going to cop a bit of stick, it's only natural, but we don't want anyone to get hurt."
Sydney will be aiming to make it two wins on the trot when they host Perth Glory at Jubilee Stadium on Wednesday night.
The teams fought out a 1-1 draw in Perth two weeks ago, but Sydney could have easily won that match if it wasn't for the heroics of Glory goalkeeper Liam Reddy.
Perth were dealt a huge blow on Tuesday when skipper Diego Castro was ruled out for between two to four weeks with a knee injury.
Defender Jonathan Aspropotamitis returns from suspension, with Glory keen to bounce back from Friday's 2-0 loss to Macarthur FC.
Wednesday's clash will be Sydney's second match of a stretch that will take in three games in seven days.
Corica said he was keen to protect his players as much as possible, with 36-year-old Bobo near the top of the list.
"We want to try to look after him," Corica said. "In the Victory game they both came off, him and Milos Ninkovic quite early in the game [in the 58th minute] and that was because of this mid-week game.
"We have to see how the game goes against Perth. The most important thing is to win the game.
"If we can, we'd like to limit his minutes to get him ready for Melbourne City [on Saturday]. But we'll have to see how the game pans out."
STATS THAT MATTER
- Sydney have lost only one of their past 16 A-League matches against the Glory (W13, D2).
- Perth have scored 7.9 more goals than their Expected Goals Value suggests they should have, the best disparity of any team. Sydney are ranked last in this category (-12.3).
- Perth have dropped 10 competition points from winning positions this season, more than any other team. No side has dropped fewer than Sydney (2).