FURIOUS Blackburn Rovers boss Gary Bowyer insisted it was an ‘unbelievable’ decision from the officials which cost his side the chance to move up their highest position of the season.

Rovers would have hauled themselves into seventh had they been able to hold on to the lead Tom Cairney and Rudy Gestede had given them in Tuesday’s night clash at struggling Barnsley.

But they remain in ninth after they had to settle for a 2-2 draw after the Tykes converted a hotly disputed second-half penalty.

Bowyer said: “I thought we were absolutely outstanding in the first half and controlled the game.

“We passed the ball really well and cut them open many a time.

“Barnsley changed their shape to combat how dominate we were and they scored against the run of play.

“But then we scored two outstanding goals to go in 2-1 at half-time.

“We knew Barnsley would come at us and we withstood that before we were undone by what can only be called an unbelievable decision.

“If that was a penalty then how does that same linesman on the same side of the pitch not flag for the Jordan Rhodes penalty when he gets flattened and the Adam Henley one. You just can’t explain that.

“Their lad has thrown himself to the floor and if there is contact it’s minimal. It’s just not a foul.

“People will watch it on the TV and they’ll be laughing.”

Rovers were unable to build on their first-half dominance.

But Bowyer was adamant they deserved the victory.

He said: “Up until the referee gives the decision we withstood what Barnsley threw at us and we weren’t really troubled.

“We expected them to have more of the ball because of the dominance we had in the first half.

“But we had a good bit of possession ourselves and correct me if I’m wrong but their man of the match was their goalkeeper.”

Barnsley manager Danny Wilson, whose side moved off the bottom as a result of their draw, admitted Rovers should have been out of sight at half-time.

He said: “In the first half they gave us a lesson. They passed us to death at times and we didn’t get to grips with it at all.

“They picked up the ball in midfield and played through us. Getting them in at half-time was a bonus from my point of view at only being a goal down.

“We got away with it, we have to be honest.”