'Proud' John Eustace's verdict on Blackburn Rovers' draw against Burnley and 'frustrating' dismissal

With the game finely poised at 1-1, the Clarets played for over half an hour with a man advantage after Makhtar Gueye was sent off for two yellows.

But despite controlling possession, Scott Parker’s men were unable to find their way past a dogged Rovers backline.

It came after Manuel Benson had given Burnley an early lead, only to be pegged back by Andi Weimann’s impressive long-range strike.

"I am really proud of the efforts of the group,” Eustace said.

"I thought it was a typical derby match. 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.

“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."

Gueye was dismissed in bizarre circumstances, having been shown a second yellow for waving an imaginary card after being fouled by Maxime Esteve.

On the incident, Eustace added: “Makhtar has got to learn that he can't raise his hands and wave a yellow card at the referee.

"At the same time, he [the referee] 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 [Dolan] 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.”