Tony Mowbray felt Neil Warnock would reflect differently upon his post-match confrontation of Rovers loanee Jarrad Branthwaite at the final whistle when the emotion of the game had died down.

A furious Warnock was seen angrily gesticulating at the teenager after Rovers’ 1-0 win after the Everton loanee was involved in the game’s main talking point.

A high boot early in the game from Branthwaite left Dael Fry unable to continue and requiring stitches underneath his eye, with the defender going unpunished.

Warnock later revealed he didn’t think there was any intention from Branthwaite, but felt his side were harshly treated, believing the high boot should have resulted in a red card and a penalty.

In the end Joe Rothwell’s second half strike gave Rovers all three points and moved them up to ninth, with Warnock’s Boro suffering back-to-back home defeats.

On the post-match incident, Mowbray said: “I didn't see it, to be honest. Listen, football is an emotional game and nobody is more emotional than me. You try to keep your emotions in and Neil is an extraordinarily emotional manager.

“I've managed a lot of times against Neil and as I'm sure you will know, he is a wonderful guy off the pitch, away from all the emotion and passion of football.

“He's an amazing human being who has done amazing things in football. I'm sure he will reflect. I'm not sure he should be facing an 18-year-old boy up who is just starting his career.

“I know the boy, after working with him for over a week, 10 days, he's just a boy who is on a journey who can't believe that he's played in the Premier League for Everton and now he's at Blackburn learning his trade.

“He's just a kid. He has no edge to him. He's not an angry kid, he's a skinny boy. I have just seen him with his top off, he's a skinny, scrawny kid who you could blow over. I don't think I'd be confronting him really.

“Neil's emotional. He probably should have thought they deserved a sending off, it never happened and they lost 1-0 in their last home game. He's probably really hurting and that's reflected in his emotional and his passion for his football team.”

Branthwaite was making just his second Rovers start since a loan move from Everton.

He endured a difficult opening to the game, a poor attempted back header leading to a Boro free kick which drew a good save from Thomas Kaminski, but he grew into the game as it wore on.

He helped Rovers to a second successive clean sheet on the road and a fifth win on their travels.

Mowbray moved to bring in Branthwaite as defensive cover following injuries to three senior centre halves, and while he believes there is room for improvement, has been impressed by the teenager.

“Jarrad is doing well. Jarrad is a young boy and as a centre-half I can sit there and see where we can help him. I can see the flaws in his game where has to learn. I had a good chat with him there,” he said.

“I'm a bit apprehensive because we're trying to improve other clubs’ players but they're here to help us and I think Jarrad helps us at the moment.

“He's a beanpole really but he's pretty calm, he stands his ground and has a nice left foot that can play it forward for us. He can win headers, he has to learn the fine details of when to wrap his leg round, when to step in front and when not to not when you've got a big strong centre-forward against you.

“He's got all those little things as he develops and Everton will benefit somewhere down the line I am sure.”