'A disgrace' - Valerien Ismael fumes after Bristol City decision in Robins' defeat to Blackburn

Blackburn Rovers boss Valerien Ismael was left furious as Bristol City opted to play on after goalkeeper Balazs Toth received treatment at Ashton Gate

Blackburn Rovers boss Valerien Ismael has labelled the scenes towards the end of his side's win over Bristol City "a disgrace", after the Robins opted not to return to possession to the away side following on-pitch treatment to goalkeeper Balazs Toth.

The Reds slipped to their second successive Championship defeat as they were beaten 1-0 by Rovers at Ashton Gate on Tuesday evening. In a game of few chances, Yuki Ohashi turned home what proved to be the winner from close range deep in first-half stoppage time.

A smart run from Ryoya Morishita saw the attacking midfielder break beyond Haydon Roberts and into the Robins' penalty area, where he evaded a sliding tackle from Zak Vyner. The attacking midfielder fizzed a low ball across the box and into the path of Ohashi, who had the simplest of finishes.

OPINION

OPINION

While City struggled to create much in the way of scoring chances, Rovers spent much of the second half aiming to hold onto their lead. With just a matter of minutes to play, Toth went to ground and received lengthy treatment on an injury, having thrown the ball into touch under little pressure.

The Blackburn goalkeeper got to his feet and ultimately was able to play on for a matter of seconds before he succumbed to his issue once more and was replaced by Aynsley Pears. While Ismael admitted he could understand the Reds' desire to win, he was furious that Rob Dickie opted to launch the resulting long-throw into the penalty area instead of returning possession to the away side.

"By the way, it was a disgrace what's happened on the pitch today with the referee and Bristol playing the ball," the Rovers boss remarked, unprompted, in his post-match press conference. "Our goalkeeper put the ball out, he was injured, and they were not giving the ball back.

"I think this is the thing we don't want to see in football; I know we want to win everyone, but at some point we have to say fair play. The referee didn't say anything, my colleague says to play the ball forward, and it's just a disgrace to see that.

"If it had been [on] the other side, I think Bristol would have expected us to give the ball back."

When questioned on Ismael's comments, Struber said, "Of course, normally we have to be here in a fair play mode, but we could see it was not clear for the boys. They have so many moments where they go down and ask for time, so I understand my boys - that they decide in this way.

"Normally, my group of players, they know what is fair play, but we could see so many times before that they find always something to take time from the watch. In this direction, I have an understanding for my boys."

Although the closing minutes of Tuesday evening's contest descended into chaos after Toth's treatment and Mark Sykes was forced off with an injury, the Robins were unable to produce much in the way of chances in their search for a leveller.

The closest Struber's side came to an equaliser came early in the second half when Ross McCrorie landed a header onto the roof of the net, having been picked out by a smart cross from Sykes. Outside of that stand-out attempt and Dickie's missed header earlier in the contest, the Reds failed to ask any real questions of Rovers.

Naturally, that was a source of frustration for both Struber and the supporters inside Ashton Gate. For the Blackburn fans and head coach, however, the stalemate that was the second half was something to celebrate.

"I think we showed two faces today," Ismael said on his side's performance. "The first half [we were] very solid, under control, and played good football. Scored the goal brilliantly like we expected, so everything was under control, and the second half was just the fight.

"We lost too many balls, put Bristol back in the game, but they didn't have a big chance to score, which is good; we were really solid away."

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