MARK Hughes is one of a rare breed of modern managers who normally refuses to point the finger of blame at referees in a vain attempt to cover up his side's own deficiencies.

Hughes would rather look within than castigate a match official as a way of deflecting the flak following a poor performance.

However, there are occasions when even the Blackburn boss feels inclined to make the referee a scapegoat and at Anfield on Saturday he had every reason to be incensed by the performance of Mark Halsey.

The Bolton official is no stranger to controversy: he was the man, remember, who famously awarded a penalty to Fulham in their home game with Arsenal last season only to change his mind.

Well, Mr Halsey had another one of those 'senior moments' during the first half of this tussle, the outcome of which wrecked any hopes that Blackburn had of recording a third straight Premiership victory.

The game was 32 minutes old when a misplaced pass from Michael Gray fell straight to Bolo Zenden, who was lurking with intent in the centre circle.

Liverpool's mercurial Dutchman then slipped a beautifully weighted pass through to Djibril Cisse, who was streaking through the inside right channel like the Euston express.

As Zurab Khizanishvili attempted to cut him off at the pass, the Georgian defender was a split second out with his timing and his outstretched leg sent Cisse tumbling into the area in a whirl of arms and legs.

What followed can only be described as chaos as Halsey tried to determine exactly what had happened.

His initial instinct was to point to the penalty spot, only for his assistant to correctly signal that the offence had occurred outside the area.

Somewhere during the ensuing consultation process, it's also alleged that Halsey indicated Khizanishvili was likely to receive a yellow card for his misdemeanour.

Then, bizarrely, the man in black had a complete change of heart, deciding instead to award Liverpool a free kick and offer Khizanishvili first use of the bath soap.

Perhaps he was influenced by the Liverpool lynch mob, which, led by the gesticulating Jamie Carragher, did their best to harangue the two match officials.

Or maybe it was the din from the Kop, who bayed for the Blackburn defender's head on a plate, that forced him into a re-think.

Either way, the erratic Mr Halsey performed a spectacular U-turn, the type of which most politicians would have been proud of, and Hughes was so incensed by it he looked he looked fit to explode in his technical area.

Let's get a couple of things straight.

First of all, the offence quite clearly occurred outside the area, so there's no way it was ever a penalty and credit must therefore go to Mr Halsey's eagle-eyed assistant for making the right call.

What the officials then had to decide was 'did Zurab deny Cisse a clear-cut goalscoring opportunity?'

Given that the Frenchman's touch was actually taking him away from goal, the answer to that should have been 'no', especially as there also appeared to be a covering defender in the centre.

But, after a brief deliberation, Halsey ruled the opposite and promptly reached for his top pocket, thus consigning Rovers to an exercise in damage limitation.

While Hughes was quick to vent his anger at the officials, it's worth considering this whole episode raises wider questions about the 'last man' rule.

When the law on the 'professional foul' was first put in place, it was meant as a deterrent against the cynical taking out of an opponent when he was through on goal.

These days, however, defenders are now seeing red for being a split second out with their timing, even when they are making a genuine attempt to get the ball.

There's absolutely no margin for error, and this is in an era when the game is faster than it has ever been before.

Fans are paying good money to watch Premiership football and they want to see a fair contest between two teams of 11 where possible, because nothing spoils a game more as a spectacle than an earlier sending off.

And from the clubs' point of view, the stakes have never been higher either, to the extent that one wrong decision can cost them millions of pounds.

Is it not time, then, to introduce video technology, which will assist the officials when it comes to making the big decisions?

Had Mr Halsey had the benefit of a TV replay here he might have seen the moment that changed this game rather differently.

Instead, he had to make a tough judgement call based on the testimony of his assistant and between the two of them, they managed to call it wrong.

Before Zurab's dismissal, there was little to choose between the two sides.

Liverpool looked anything but European champions and appeared to be there for the taking without the irrepressible Steven Gerrard to patrol the midfield.

Buoyed by back-to-back wins against Manchester United and West Brom, there was an entrepreneurial steak about Rovers during the opening exchanges.

Shefki Kuqi headed over and a slick move involving Lucas Neill and Paul Dickov led to a shooting chance for Robbie Savage that he put wide.

Liverpool's main threat came from set-pieces, but Cisse and Carragher both failed to apply the killer touch to excellent Xabi Alonso deliveries.

Inevitably, the sending off upset the equilibrium and from then on the Reds became more dominant.

Zenden struck the crossbar with the resulting free kick, and Cisse spurned two more golden opportunities as Alonso exploited Rovers' vulnerability to set-pieces.

The second half continued in a similar vein as Cisse wasted two further chances and Stephen Warnock had a penalty appeal turned down when he fell under a challenge from Tugay.

Rovers gave everything for the cause but their brave resistance was finally shattered in the 75th minute.

Savage conceded one foul too many on the edge of the area and the ball was cleverly shifted sideways to Cisse from the ensuing free kick, thus creating the perfect angle for the Frenchman to drill a low shot past Brad Friedel.

It was a sweet moment for Cisse, who suffered a double fracture of the leg in a Premiership fixture against Blackburn a year ago.

As Rovers went in pursuit of an equaliser, that inevitably left gaps which Fernando Morientes should have exploited on three occasions in the final 10 minutes.

But another goal then really would have been harsh on Rovers.