THE season really started here was the message that Brian Kidd had been preaching to his Blackburn Rovers players. Unfortunately, some of them appeared not to have been listening.

For, while the Lynch mob bayed for blood from all four sides of Ewood Park, they were - as is not unusual in these cases - after the wrong men.

Referee Kevin Lynch's performance was far from perfect. Indeed, it prompted Grimsby boss Alan Buckley to suffer a self-imposed gag in case he talked his way into trouble big style with the Football Association.

The official would probably not have had the nerve to claim it was a good day at the office.

But, if you were looking for the real villains, they were wearing blue and white.

Crass defending and careless finishing cost Rovers a game they could still have won against Grimsby Town, even though they played more than half of it with 10 men and nearly a third with only nine!

Craig Short got himself sent off and gifted Grimsby the lead from the penalty spot after a ludicrous running battle, for such an experienced player, with crafty striker Jack Lester.

And his partner Christian Dailly fared little better against the lively Lester - though he did manage to stay on the pitch.

For Martin Taylor's naivety also saw him red carded, though it was not as clear cut as Short's dismissal.

With time running out on a dramatic day, Grimsby's Richard Smith walked early, too, but it made no difference to the outcome of an eventful match.

The damage to Rovers' hopes had already been done, in attack as well, where Nathan Blake wasted two crucial chances at vital times. Success or failure can hinge on moments like that.

Just now, you would have to say that, unless Rovers can produce the kind of run that Howard Kendall's promotion-winning side of 1979-80 turned in after a similar start, they are going to struggle to catch the top teams.

And there are few signs of that happening so far, not least on what was a dramatic, incident-packed afternoon.

You could have put a case for Lester - a real Jack the lad as far as Rovers were concerned - to be sent off after trampling on Lee Carsley in the first half.

Question marks over Mr Lynch's consistency, if you see what I mean.

It might also seem harsh not to praise a side, as many fans did at the end, for hanging onto a point after such drastic reductions to their ranks.

They did deserve some credit for that, but the hole they found themselves in was very much of their own digging.

And it should have been so different. For there was a real purpose and positive attitude about Rovers from the start.

They could have been two goals up in the first six minutes as Jason Wilcox struck a 20-yard free kick against a post, saw another set piece saved and then bravely played in Blake.

But the chance went begging as the striker's shot rattled the woodwork.

It never got as good again, as Grimsby gradually clawed their way back into the game and their two strikers began to look really slippery.

Short and Dailly became careless, allowed them too much room and, eventually, paid for it. Short wrestled with Lester for something like 10 yards, inevitably gave away a penalty and Lee Ashcroft sent John Filan the wrong way once the defender had been sent off.

In first-half stoppage time, it looked fairly innocuous when Tony Gallimore and Per Frandsen clashed but Mr Lynch pointed to the spot and Carsley thundered the penalty past Danny Coyne in tremendous fashion to equalise.

It still looked like being a long second half, not least when Blake wasted a golden chance set up by Egil Ostenstad's unselfish play.

Then Wilcox made a great run and struck the afternoon's best shot. It seemed to be touched just over the bar but Mr Lynch gave a goal kick.

Grimsby, however, had the edge in personnel and that was stretched in the 63rd minute when sub Taylor fell for Lester's cunning. There seemed to be a case of six of one, half a dozen of the other but the youngster should have known to tread warily after Short's red card.

In a similar, though not identical, situation he was red carded.

Grimsby also wanted a penalty rather than a free kick but failed to get it and then failed to make their numerical advantage tell.

With two minutes left, Richard Smith fouled Damien Duff and should have had a second yellow. He got a straight red, for allegedly denying a scoring opportunity, but the result was the same - 9 v 10.

We had four minutes of stoppage time so it would come as no surprise that, well into the fifth minute (!), Bradley Allen turned in Gallimore's shot for what looked like a belated winner.

Only this time a linesman flagged and the referee didn't over-rule it.

Mr Lynch struggled to please any of the people any of the time. But he still wasn't as much to blame for more points dropped as some of the Rovers players.

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