TONY Mowbray said he couldn’t defend the actions of Dominic Samuel as the striker was shown a straight red card late on in the 3-0 win over Portsmouth at Ewood Park.

But the Rovers boss felt the officials could have intervened before the situation reached the stage where Samuel kicked out at Pompey defender Christian Burgess.

Samuel was held back by Burgess in his pursuit of the ball, but after the referee didn’t award a free-kick, he took out his frustration by kicking out.

Referee Christopher Kavanagh was quick to send Samuel off which will rule him out for Rovers’ next three matches.

And Mowbray, who admits that could hand an opportunity to promote Joe Nuttall in to the first-team picture, said he couldn’t condone Samuel’s actions.

He said: “I was a bit annoyed because I felt that the referee should have dealt with the incident before it got to the stage where he was sent off.

“I can’t stand here and defend that, you can’t go around kicking people on the pitch as he did.

“He’s apologised, he will get disciplined because we are going to  be without our main centre forward for three games which we will have to try and win.

“It was hugely frustrating but the officials could have done something, he was grabbed and held back three or four times before lashing out and I can’t condone that.

“He will be disciplined because the team will suffer without him.”