A report will be passed to the Football Association after an incident involving Dwight McNeil and Ezgjan Alioski in Burnley’s 4-0 defeat to Leeds on Saturday.

It came with a little over 20 minutes remaining of the match with Leeds 2-0 to the good, when McNeil appeared to say something in the ear of Alioski after he had gone down under a challenge near the touchline.

The Leeds player then got to his feet and responding by covering his ears and sticking out his tongue as both benches got involved in an argument.

Referee Graham Scott then called over managers Sean Dyche and Marcelo Bielsa, plus captains Ben Mee and Luke Ayling, before play resumed.

“A report has come into the referee and that will be passed on to the FA,” Dyche said in his post-match press conference, but he did not say which player was involved. “One of our players made the report and I was there to be a witness to the report, not the incident.

“The report has been made with the referee and that’s where it will stay for now.”

Asked if there was a racial element to the complaint, Dyche declined to comment further and the FA said it would await the report before commenting.

Leeds manager Marcelo Bielsa said he had not seen the reaction of his player.

“I didn’t see that there was an incident between the two,” he said. “If there was a gesture I didn’t see it. I saw there was a dispute but I didn’t think it was too different to what usually happens within a game.”

Dyche withdrew McNeil moments later as he was replaced by Johann Berg Gudmundsson, though the Burnley manager said the decision was unrelated.

“I was going to take Dwight off,” he said. “He’s put in a lot of effort this season and done very well over this season. This was the first time he’s looked a bit jaded. I was nearly going to leave him out before the game, he’s put a big shift in this season.”

As for the game itself, defeat for the Clarets was something of a comedown after Monday’s 2-0 win at Fulham ensured their Premier League survival.

They were left to rue a fine chance for Matej Vydra at 1-0 down early in the second half, but it was clear by the end of the 90 minutes this was not their day as several chances went begging.

“It was a big occasion for us on Monday and I was surprised in a positive way how well we started,” boss Sean Dyche said.

“They’re human beings and it was a big occasion, so I thought maybe it was going to affect our physical performance. I thought it would but it didn’t really.

“We were asking questions, we were diligent in most areas until we conceded the goals, and we weren’t a million miles off it.”

Former Leeds goalkeeper Bailey Peacock-Farrell started due to a knee injury for Nick Pope, but endured another difficult afternoon and has now conceded 14 goals in his four Premier League appearances this season.

“These are the challenges for goalkeepers, these are the challenges of being in the Premier League,” Dyche said of the Northern Ireland international.

“That’s the next step for him, he’s developing and you have to go through the tough times to learn and progress so it’s about how he deals with it.

“I think he’s developed off the pitch, he’s developed physically but the challenge is game time.”