John Eustace was left frustrated by the officials' performance but praised Blackburn Rovers after they held Burnley to a 1-1 draw.
11 yellow cards were shown by referee Tony Harrington, including two to Makhtar Gueye, who was sent off mid-way through the second-half.
That was with the score at 1-1 and the game in the balance after Andi Weimann's dipping volley had cancelled out Lyle Foster's opener.
Rovers were already aggrieved to have seen a perfectly legitimate Tyrhys Dolan goal incorrectly ruled out for offside in the first half. Gueye's dismissal then added salt in the wound, with the forward sent off for waving an imaginary card at the referee.
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Eustace admitted that he felt the performance of those in charge was 'poor'.
"Makhtar has got to learn that he can't raise his hands and wave a yellow card at the referee," Eustace told The Lancashire Telegraph.
"At the same time, he missed a really obvious yellow card himself. It was more frustrating. I thought the officials were pretty poor today in such a big game, I won't lie.
"I think Ty's goal was certainly onside and that's certainly disappointing. They gave it for offside, I'm not sure who it was for but that doesn't matter.
"It's maybe something they have to learn, this might have been the biggest game they've done, I don't know.
"It's important that we have a level of consistency and we didn't have that today. I'm very proud of the efforts."
Rovers defended their box excellently for the remaining 30 minutes, limiting Burnley to very few clear-cut chances. Though they had a lot of the ball, Aynsley Pears was not forced to make a string of saves.
"I am really proud of the efforts of the group. I thought it was a typical derby match," he reflected overall.
"It was a hostile atmosphere but the lads stuck to the game plan. I'm very pleased with the performance. The way the lads battled and looked after each other is what Blackburn Rovers is all about. I am very proud of what they produced today.
"I'm very proud of all the efforts of the group the whole squad. There is a real togetherness in the group. To come here against a team with excellent players and a very good manager and play our way.
"We weren't as good on the ball but that's very difficult against a good team that press like they do. They stuck together, scored a great goal but I don't think they caused us many problems during the game.
"They had a lot of possession but we limited them to very few chances. It's something we have to work on and be better at, in that final third.
"I think as the game went on, if we had 11 men, we would have been better but the way they carried on and kept fighting was very pleasing."
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