BLACKBURN Rovers manager Mark Hughes felt Tugay's first half dismissal cost his side dearly as they slumped to a 4-0 defeat against Middlesbrough on Saturday.

The Turkish midfielder was sent off for two bookable offences in the 30th minute of a game that was delicately poised at 0-0 at the time.

But Boro then hammered home their numerical advantage as Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink plundered a second half hat-trick to ensure the points headed back to the North East.

"Obviously, the sending off has affected our game," said a bitterly disappointed Hughes.

"I thought the first booking was a little bit harsh. It was an instinctive reaction to the ball going past him.

"And with the second one my initial thought was 'Yes, it's a foul' but whether or not it merited another booking I'm not too sure.

"Having said that, Tugay knew he'd already had one booking, so maybe he shouldn't have gone into that challenge.

"It certainly affected the way the game panned out (thereafter).

"We needed as many players as possible on the pitch because we had a lot of players away (in midweek) and a lot were going to feel it towards the end of the game.

"So losing a player after half an hour was basically the worst case scenario for us."

There was little to choose between the two sides until Tugay's dismissal.

In fact, Rovers had created all the chances until the veteran midfielder suddenly had his rush of blood.

"I thought we started the brighter of the two teams and created a number of chances, but once we lost Tugay it was a case of reorganising and trying to remain solid and hope for a chance at the other end at some stage in the game," said Hughes.

"But to concede immediately after half time completely deflated us and it was always going to be difficult to come back from that situation, if not impossible.

"To be fair to the lads, a lot of them had been away on international duty.

"They had a lot of miles in their legs and some were coming back from injury as well, so it was always going to be difficult to come back from that situation.

"But they kept going. The fourth goal came at a time when the players were completely shot so it was very difficult for them but they'll pick themselves up and they understand that they have to defend better, even when you lose a man.

"It's a case of just getting on the training field for a whole week, so we've got the opportunity to put some good work into them."

Hughes was gracious enough to admit that Middlesbrough had gone about their business in a professional manner.

Their manager Steve McClaren, who also got the better of Hughes when England met Wales at Old Trafford 10 days ago, initially adopted a cautious approach with the aim of catching Rovers on the break.

But after the sending off, he decided to throw on an extra striker and the move paid handsome dividends.

Hughes added: "They've got a good side now. They've got players who can break quickly, that was their gameplan.

"They came with one up front and invited us on to them and then broke very quickly.

"They've got very experienced international players that know how to exploit the space when they do break and they were first class in the way they broke and finished their chances."