MARK Hughes took an angry swipe at referee Alan Wiley and his two assistants after he accused them of making a number of unfathomable decisions during the goalless draw with Everton on Saturday.

The Blackburn boss and his Everton counterpart, David Moyes, were both scathing in their criticism of the Staffordshire official, and the way he handled the goalless draw.

Hughes felt aggrieved about the fact his side picked up twice as many bookings as Everton on the day, and he was particularly displeased by the yellow card shown to Morten Gamst Pedersen late in the game, which means the Norwegian will now be suspended for next week's trip to Arsenal.

Hughes argued Pedersen was the innocent party in a flashpoint involving Everton's Mikel Arteta, and claimed the Everton midfielder should have been sent off.

"If you raise your hands on the football field, my understanding is that it's a straight red," said the Rovers boss, who claimed Arteta grabbed Pedersen by the throat during the melee.

"I think he felt Morten was a little bit late with his challenge and clipped the outside of his shin, so he reacted and raised his arms.

"By the letter of the law, he (Arteta) probably should have gone.

"You don't want to see players being sent off. But it was one of the decisions by the referee that mystified both me and David Moyes.

"Morten gets grabbed round the neck and gets yellow-carded for it.

"It's just one of those decisions, and the official made a number which were a bit difficult to fathom.

"It means we are now without Chris Samba, Morten Pedersen and David Dunn (all are suspended) at Arsenal.

"It's hard enough going to Arsenal at the best of times. Ideally, you would like your strongest side."

That wasn't the only contentious decision during a game that became increasingly spiky in the second half.

David Dunn was also lucky to stay on the field after he was guilty of deliberately handling the ball minutes after getting booked for a different offence.

And Moyes also argued Everton had a perfectly good goal' ruled out for offside against Andy Johnson late on in the game.

The debate on that decision will no doubt rumble on, with Hughes insisting the officials got it right on that occasion.

But one thing the two managers did agree on was the offside rule has now become so ambiguous that it's making a referee's job even more difficult.

Hughes said: "There are too many grey areas with the offside rule as it stands, and it's making it too difficult for referees.

"When I was playing, that was a stonewall offside. Mr Wiley didn't have the best of performances, and he wasn't helped by the linesman on that side.

"It (the offside) was probably the one thing he (the linesman) got right all afternoon."