Boss's red card rage

The media are in a privileged position to see the early reactions of a manager with emotions still raw following matches.

And, just 20 minutes after the end of their FA Cup fifth round loss to Middlesbrough, Souness faced the press frustrated, angered and in disbelief at the manner of his side's exit, largely at the hands of referee Graham Barber.

The Hertfordshire official had virtually cut up Rovers' dreams of making it into the quarter-finals by dismissing Lucas Neill in controversial circumstances.

And Souness - who was backed by Boro boss Steve McClaren and the Match of the Day pundits later on - could not contain his fury.

"He had a bad bad game, a very bad bad game. He had a minging game," fumed the Ewood chief, who also saw four of his players go into the referee's notebook.

"I used to think he was half decent, him. I thought he was one of the better ones until today. I am sorry but the frustration I feel means I have nothing else to talk about."

The Rovers boss knew he couldn't take his comments too far with risk of punishment by the FA, but with some more crucial games coming up now, where Rovers are fighting for their Premiership survival, a decision like this one could have a big bearing on what happens come May.

"What will happen to him?" he continued desperately looking for answers. "If the assessor says 'I'm giving you no points out of ten today' what happens after that? He will be back refereeing in the Premier League next week. Who will judge him?

"There is someone in every press room at 5 o'clock every Saturday in the Premier League feeling like I do. That can't be right. It is just not good enough.

"I am paid to manage a football team not sort out their problems but from a professional playing side the players and management and coaching staff, it was just not good enough.

"And the big danger for me, and I am not alone in thinking this way, is that if these referees don't improve people will stop coming to watch football matches. The fans go home frustrated, I feel frustrated and the players feel twice as frustrated as I do and it must eventually have an effect on the paying customer and that is a big worry for me in the English game."

Referee Barber showed Australian Neill the red card on 72 minutes for what he saw as a foul on last man Robbie Stockdale. Well he didn't in fact see it as a foul, it was his assistant who gave it - and that infuriated Souness even more.

"He was arguably offside when it was played. At this point, the players came together and I do not think he was the last man.

"The referee motioned to play on at this point, then the linesman put his flag up because the crowd roared and then anything can happen and from our point of view it did, we got a man sent off."

It was always a struggle after that and there was a sense of inevitability when Gareth Southgate's free kick found big defender Ugo Ehiogu diving in front of the Rovers two central defenders and his header hit the back of the net three minutes from time - his first of the season.

Up until then, in truth, not a lot had happened. Neither side had threatened too much in a game that wasn't much of a thrill for the fans who had turned up in bigger numbers than for the much talked about visit of Manchester United in the last round where the Riverside was only half full.

Since the United game Middlesbrough have given themselves some breathing space from the bottom three in the Premiership with a run of six games without a loss while Blackburn have slipped into the drop zone with a poor run - and they couldn't give themselves a boost at Boro.

Souness was widely anticipated to make wholesale changes for a competition which was third on the list of priorities at Ewood Park after the Premier League and next week's Worthington Cup final.

Instead, there were just three from the team who lost to Fulham last week with Craig Hignett, Nils-Eric Johansson and Keith Gillespie making a start, while there was no place at all for David Dunn. The England Under 21 midfielder was walking a tightrope as if he had picked up a yellow card, he would miss the huge relegation battle with Bolton.

Lively Damien Duff was given the nod up front alongside Andy Cole while Matt Jansen - struggling with a hip injury picked up in training - started on the bench.

Both sides struggled to get anywhere near goal and it was a poor spectacle - 'you can tell these two are struggling in the Premiership' said one reporter - especially in the first half with the best chance coming from Boro.

Noel Whelan chipped the outcoming Brad Friedel on the stroke of half time but Henning Berg was back to clear off the line and once that happened it seemed to have 0-0 written all over it.

Souness changed it around after the break, taking off Berg and going to 3-5-2 pushing Martin Taylor and Johansson into their more usual central defensive roles. Keith Gillespie dropped back into the right back slot when needed and youngster Jonathan Douglas came on in the centre of the park - he might be needed for that duty next week in the Worthington Cup final with both Tugay and Garry Flitcroft suspended.

There were half chances here and there, but neither goalkeeper was seriously troubled until it all went wrong with Neill's dismissal.

"I would have been furious if it happened to me," admitted Souness's counterpart McClaren. "I would have been exactly like Graeme.

"I would have been incensed, absolutely furious. But enough decisions have gone against us in the past and nothing is going to change this one now. You have got to take your breaks."

For Rovers, the biggest relief will have been that it wasn't three precious points that were at stake - and Souness will be hoping he doesn't come across Mr Barber again in a hurry.

MIDDLESBROUGH...1

Ehiogu...87

ROVERS...0

At The Riverside: Attendance...20,291