Hughes blames red card for defeat

Mark Hughes believes that Blackburn would have got a better result had the referee not sent off his Georgian defender. He feels the red card was harsh and will be appealing:

"It was hard to take, we started the game brightly and were the more dominant team, the sending-off changed the complexion of the game," he said.
"Having spoken to the lads, the referee's initial decision was that it was a penalty and he was pushed into seeing that was incorrect and when he goes over to the linesman he is saying it was likely to be a yellow card.
"But then he asked for clarification from his assistant and he is told the tackle was outside the box, then he comes back and gives him a red card.
"If he had given the penalty, would he have sent him off? The fact he didn't give a penalty seemed to change his mind and give our lad the red card."
Hughes added: "It wasn't a goalscoring opportunity, he wasn't bearing down on goal and he was actually going away from the goal.
"There were players getting back and the referee needs to look at the decision because he has affected the outcome of the game and we will appeal.
"If we don't appeal we will lose him and also Lucas Neill at right-back, and that's our cover taken out in one go.
"It changed the game. I thought we were excellent all day, we had to be determined and resolute and as the game went on I felt the only way we would concede was a set piece. Liverpool didn't create anything in open play.

I agree with Hughes that the sending off was harsh. However it was about time we were on the right end of a controversial decision. The bit of luck received is necessary sometimes to get things up and running. We now need to build on this victory to improve the confidence of our team.

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