Aberdeen rounded off their mid-season break in Dubai with an ill-tempered 2-0 defeat to Uzbek champions Lokomotiv Tashkent.
Two quick-fire strikes before half time condemned the Dons to defeat and a dust-up involving both sides before the break threatened to spoil the low-key nature of the game.
Chidi Nwakali was handed a start for the Dons, just days after completing his move from Manchester City, but Scott McKenna was on the bench in the wake of the club rejecting a bid from English Championship club Hull City for his services. Mark Reynolds was given a run-out but Stevie May and Niall McGinn were not risked with a lack of match fitness.
Ryan Christie continued his excellent recent form as he was in the thick of the early good work from the Dons. He hit the post and had a goal disallowed, after Greg Stewart had a shot cleared off the line.
Stewart came close again, seeing a header tipped over from a Gary Mackay-Steven cross, before Islom Tukhtakhujaev gave Lokomotiv a surprise lead on 26 minutes when he headed in a Marat Bikmaev corner. The lead was doubled two minutes later when the Dons failed to clear and Sherzodbek Karimov fired home.
Both sides will have been hoping for a relatively incident-free workout but a huge bust-up between the players on 40 minutes put paid to that. It started with Tukhtakhujaev leading with an elbow on Christie, with Kenny McLean and Anthony O’Connor both heavily involved for the Dons. Match officials hastily got themselves in the middle of it all and even Lokomotiv head coach Mirko Jelicic made his presence felt, wading on to the pitch amid it all and gesturing at McInnes.
The closest the Dons came to scoring was in the second half when Graeme Shinnie embarked on a mazy run but aimed his shot straight at goalkeeper Ignatiy Nesterov.
They were lucky not to go further behind in the closing stages when Frank Ross’ backpass allowed Cho Suk Jae a free run at goal but an outstretched leg from Danny Rogers prevented further embarrassment.