MARK Hughes has leapt to the defence of his players after they were accused of using bully-boy tactics in Saturday's FA Cup semi-final with Arsenal at the Millennium Stadium.

Gunners boss Arsene Wenger criticised Rovers' physical style and claimed Patrick Vieira was singled out in particular for some rough treatment in the first half of a fiercely contested match in the Welsh capital.

Garry Flitcroft, David Thompson and Aaron Mokoena were all booked for fouls on the Frenchman in the opening 45 minutes, and the Arsenal players were also unhappy with second-half challenges by Brett Emerton (on Jens Lehmann) and Robbie Savage (on Cesc Fabregas) that didn't result in cautions.

However, Hughes has denied his players over-stepped the mark and he believes Rovers are now getting unfairly labelled as a dirty side because of comments made by Chelsea boss Jose Mourinho earlier in the year.

"This all stems from the Chelsea game. Now whenever we go into a tackle people say that we are a certain type of team," said Hughes.

"I don't think at any stage it was a game that went way over the mark.

"It was a competitive game, we are competitive side and Arsenal haven't won as many trophies as they have without being competitive as well.

"I don't think we ever over-stepped the mark, though. It was a game to be won and we tried to win it.

"We have our strengths and we have our weaknesses and we try to play to our strengths."

Responding to claims that Vieira was singled out for 'special attention', Hughes hit back by accusing the Arsenal captain of going to ground too easily.

"Vieira is a big player and a big man and at times he has to expect that people will compete against him," said the Rovers boss.

"Maybe he has to be a little bit more robust to resist that.

"I felt he spent a little bit too much time on the floor. He is 6ft 4ins after all.

"But I don't want to highlight that too much because I think he's a great player."

Hughes also said he did not see the incident where Andy Todd caught Robin Van Persie with his forearm after the Dutchman scored Arsenal's third goal.

He added: "If it gets highlighted and something has gone on then I'm sure the FA will do something about it, but I can't comment on it properly at the moment because I didn't see it."

Hughes was generally pleased with the way his players competed in the first half, but once they conceded the opening goal to Robert Pires, he knew they faced a daunting task to get back into the game.

"We came here and tried to make it difficult. I think we did that in the first half, I thought we were the better side but we went in 1-0 down, which I thought was harsh," said the Welshman.

"In the second half we found it difficult to get any momentum going because it was stop-start.

Then, towards the end of the game, we had to go for it because we were 1-0 down. We pushed a few extra bodies forward and Arsenal had the quality up front to exploit any space we left."

Rovers now face Crystal Palace in a crucial Premiership clash on Wednesday and Hughes must pick his players up quickly.

"The lads are disappointed but we've enjoyed the cup run. It's been good for us and it's helped our league form," added Hughes.

"It's come to an end, so there's disappointment, but we've got a big game on Wednesday and we can't really dwell on this.

"I don't think it was a 3-0 defeat, it was never that clear cut, so we've got to pick ourselves up and go again on Wednesday."