BLACKBURN midfielder Brett Emerton today insisted he was denied a 'definite penalty' against Southampton at the weekend.

The Australian midfielder had his heels clipped by Graeme Le Saux as he burst into the box in the 16th minute of Saturday's 1-1 draw at Ewood but referee Mike Dean let the incident go unpunished.

That decision infuriated Blackburn manager Graeme Souness and Emerton later confirmed that Souness had every right to feel aggrieved by claiming he definitely had his legs taken from under him by the former Rovers player.

"I just remember being through and I pulled my leg back to side-foot it and the next minute I was on the ground," said Emerton.

"So I'm definite that he did catch me and it should have been a penalty."

Rovers were trailing 1-0 to an early Kevin Phillips goal at the time and Dean's failure to spot the offence, which could have also led to a red card for Le Saux, was undoubtedly the game's major talking point.

However, Souness wasn't surprised by the referee's course of action.

Rovers have now played 31 games this season and have yet to be awarded a single spot-kick.

"It's no surprise to me. We don't get penalties, that's a fact. We are not one of the big clubs so we don't get them," raged Souness.

"We just don't get a fair crack of the whip.

"We haven't had a penalty all season and logic would tell you that somewhere in those previous 20-odd games, there would be a cause for a penalty.

"But we don't get them."

Souness also confirmed that Paul Gallagher was substituted at half-time after tweaking his hamstring but the injury is not thought to be serious.

Souness will take advantage of the fact that Rovers are now without a game for 13 days by taking his players on a short break to Marbella this week.