TEENAGER Martin Taylor pleaded his innocence after collecting the first red card of his career in Blackburn Rovers' dramatic draw with Grimsby at Ewood on Saturday.

And the man he was sent off for fouling - Grimsby striker Jack Lester - sympathised with the 19-year-old Rovers centre back.

Taylor was the second Rovers man to get his marching orders from referee Kevin Lynch, after being sent on as a substitute to fill the gap left by the earlier dismissal of experienced Craig Short.

"I didn't think I fouled him but that's what the referee gave it for, a professional foul," said Taylor. "I thought he was doing as much to me as I was to him.

"But he's just fallen down."

Taylor had only been on the pitch for some 20 minutes and he added: "I was looking forward to it, I thought we had settled down well in the second half and were getting back into it.

"It's just unfortunate it happened then.

"He (Lester) was very strong. He could turn you and you had to be very careful and concentrate all the time. He's a good player.

"Craig Short's (dismissal) was similar to mine. Maybe he was the wrong side of him as I was and he's strong in the box and he's going to look for a penalty if he can't score."

Lester himself had no doubt that he was fouled by Short for the first Rovers red card but had doubts about whether Taylor should have gone for the second incident on the edge of the box.

He also believed it was inside the area.

"The first one was definitely right," he said. "The second was a penalty and maybe a booking.

"But the referee has given a free kick and sent him off.

"I thought he was unlucky to be sent off. We would rather have had the penalty and let him stay on the pitch."

Lester also felt Rovers were lucky to get the penalty which saved them a point as Tony Gallimore was judged to have fouled Per Frandsen.

"Although it's easy to blame the ref, the penalty he gave them was disappointing. If it had been at our ground, I doubt he would have given it," added the striker.

"We could have gone in 1-0 up (at half-time) and they didn't really trouble us in the second half.

"I think we would have been looking for the extra goal, they would have had to come at us and we would probably have scored it."

Rovers boss Brian Kidd had no criticism of the red-card decisions, which will mean a one-match ban for both players. But, despite another disappointing result, he retains faith in his squad.

He rested Ashley Ward in a surprise move but said it was about a squad rather than just a team.

Ewood chief executive John Williams said there were no imminent transfer plans, despite some speculation.

Rovers have been linked with Sergei Baltacha, of St Mirren, and Crewe's young defender David Wright. But they are very unlikely to go back into the market at the moment.

Rovers have sold their allocation of tickets for Saturday's game against Manchester City at Maine Road.

Another tremendous performance by the Academy under-19 team brought a 6-2 win over Bolton at Brockhall. It was their seventh win in seven matches and the third time this season the side have scored six goals. Scorers were Steve Foster (2), Gary Hamilton (2), Burton O'Brien and David McNamee.

The under-17s also won, 2-0 away to Bolton. Mark Byrne and schoolboy Lee Atkinson got the goals.

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