Stephen Robinson shut down a question on whether St Mirren's equaliser against SK Brann was "fair play" in a tense exchange with the Norwegian press.
Club officials from Brann were left furious over the circumstances surrounding Toyosi Olusanya's 90th-minute equaliser at the SMiSA Stadium.
The outrage stems from the fact St Mirren did not return the ball to Brann after it was knocked out of play with a player down with cramp.
While Brann players and staff were outraged at not having the ball returned to their possession, St Mirren players were adamant it was an act of time-wasting.
After the throw, St Mirren went on to win a corner which resulted in Olusanya bundling the ball into the back of the net to claim a precious draw ahead of the return leg in Bergen next Thursday.
Quizzed on the flared tensions after the throw in incident and leveller, Robinson said: "To be fair I was sitting watching the Toyosi incident. I was on the bench watching the Toyosi incident.
"I asked the boys about it afterwards and they felt they [Brann] were time-wasting and they were going down with cramp.
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"You could argue they are 16 games into their season and they are going down with cramp, maybe they have to be fitter, I don't know."
Robinson was then pushed further on the topic with reference made to fury from travelling supporters and club officials from SK Brann.
The Paisley boss responded: "My response was the same as I just answered. I was sitting watching the Toyosi incident. I didn't see what led to it.
"I will say it was a minute after the throw that it happened. We didn't score directly from the throw.
"I asked the players and they said they refused to throw it back because they felt that the player was going down with cramp and it was time-wasting."
Robinson was then asked, 'fair play from St Mirren?' with the manager firm in his response.
"Well, I could argue back and say he's gone down with cramp and is he time-wasting," he said.
Brann manager Eirik Horenland said of the heated exchange between players at full-time: "It was a European cup game and there was a lot of adrenaline at the end.
"This is football. We lost a late goal and they scored a late goal, so lots of adrenaline at that point."
