BLACKBURN boss Mark Hughes struggled to keep his emotions in check after Mark Halsey sent off one of his players for the second time this season.

The Bolton official, who was responsible for dismissing Zurab Khizanishvili during Rovers' 1-0 defeat at Liverpool in October, also showed a straight red card to Andy Todd half an hour into Saturday's 2-0 home defeat to Everton.

At the time, Rovers were already trailing to a goal from James McFadden, but Hughes felt Todd's dismissal wrecked any hopes his side had of staging a second major comeback in a week.

Todd was given his marching orders in the 30th minute after the ball struck his hand as James Beattie was bearing down on goal, an offence Mr Halsey deemed deliberate on the advice of his assistant, Mark Warren.

"My view on it is clear," blasted Hughes.

"Yes, there was some contact but I think the ball was played into Andy and he was just trying to readjust his position.

"If there was contact, it was minimal and I don't think it warranted a sending off, which changed the whole shape of the game.

"People pay good money and they want to see 11 versus 11, but that completely changed the game and it's the second time it has happened to us when Mr Halsey has been involved.

"He was proved wrong last time and I think he will be proved wrong this time."

Hughes was so incensed by Halsey's performance that he later confronted him as he left the pitch at the final whistle, but he refused to divulge the content of that heated exchange in his post-match press conference.

"I was walking in and he just happened to be walking alongside me," said Hughes, diplomatically.

"I didn't discuss that (incident), I discussed a number of other things, not least the amount of time that he added on.

"But I've got to be careful in what I say."

When it was pointed out to Hughes that Mr Halsey hails from Bolton, the Rovers boss added: "You make of that what you will, but I have my own thoughts on it."

Earlier, Rovers, chasing a fourth successive home win in the Premiership, had made an exhilarating start to the match only for Morten Gamst Pedersen to pass up two golden chances before Everton struck with a sucker punch from McFadden.

Then, after Todd's dismissal, the Toffees scored again on the stroke of half-time, this time through the impressive Mikel Arteta.

Rovers' 10-men mounted a spirited fight-back in the second half but, unlike last Wednesday at Charlton, they failed to overturn a two-goal deficit on this occasion.

"I thought we were excellent in the opening 20 minutes," said Hughes.

"Everton had to change the way they approached it because we were causing them so many problems and, to be fair, they didn't really cause us that many problems all day long.

"Even in the second half, when we were down to 10 men, I don't think they had a shot on our goal and Brad had very little to do, so I think that shows the response I was looking for in the second half.

"The players really stuck at it and tried to get back in the game and if Morten had scored with a header at the far post, we may well have got back on level terms.

"But I just think our efforts against Arsenal and then Charlton in midweek just took the edge off us in the end and we weren't able to turn it around."

If Hughes was disappointed with one element of his side's play then it was the defending for both goals.

"They were situations which we allowed to develop and we should have nipped them at source, but we didn't," added the Rovers boss.

"There was a number of consecutive errors, which we always try and guard against, but in saying that, I thought in general play we deserved to take something out of the game."