Richie Smallwood has highlighted how tackling has changed even since he made his senior football debut in 2010. The midfielder, whose game is built around breaking up play, admits he’s even ‘confused’ as to what now constitutes a good tackle.

Manager Tony Mowbray sympathises with his players and says his message is to ‘be careful’.

Smallwood was surprised to be sent off in the game at Sheffield United last month, which earned him a three match suspension. The 28-year-old insisted his tackle ‘wasn’t even the second worst in the match.’

“I think there’s no doubt that it has changed, you’ve got to really think about how you tackle,” he said. “If you think it’s a good tackle then the referee’s now with what the rules are, you can’t slide in with any force.

“To be honest, I’m a bit confused with what the rules are. It’s in the back of your mind that you’ve got to be careful. You can challenge strong, but maybe you can’t slide in anymore.”

This red card was the first time Smallwood has missed a league game for Rovers through suspension and was only the second red in his career - the first coming for Rotherham in April 2014.

The 28-year-old was surprised to be shown the red card by Anthony Taylor at Bramall Lane.

“I was surprised, I thought I won the ball. I got up from under Billy Sharp, who’s grabbed me a little bit on the floor and I’m thinking, ‘I don’t think I touched him’,”

“I thought I won the ball first. The manager talks about being good behind the ball, recycling the ball and keeping the pressure on – that was exactly what I was trying to do, slide in and nick the ball out.

“I didn’t see Bennett until it was too late, and I didn’t think he was going to slide in as well otherwise it wouldn’t have looked as bad.

“It was two people on to one, so it looked worse than it was. The referee made a decision, unluckily for me it was the wrong one,” highlighted the midfielder.

Smallwood highlighted the inconsistency’s as referee Anthony Taylor took charge of the Manchester City v Liverpool game a few days later.

“You’ve seen the game he’s refereeing a couple of days later, it’s a way worse tackle than mine, he’s given a yellow card.

“My tackle wasn’t even the worst in our game, it wasn’t even the second worst tackle. I was just on the wrong end of, what I think, was an inconsistent decision.

“I know how to tackle, I’m good at it and I’ve done it for years. I knew what I was thinking and what I was trying to do, I don’t go out there to hurt anybody.

“I felt like I won the ball and the referee didn’t. It’s unfortunate, I’ll learn from that. It’s just frustrating really that there’s a bit of inconsistency,” said Smallwood.

Smallwood wanted to talk to the referee at the end of the game to get clarity on why he was sent off.

“I wanted to actually go and see him at the end of the game. I wasn’t even that mad, I wanted to just speak to him normally.

“I thought I better not do that in case I get myself in any more trouble. You see different decisions and you don’t really know what you can and can’t do. It leaves you thinking a bit more.”

Rovers had a couple of disappointing results over Christmas, but have won their last two league games since the turn of the year.

“West Brom, that was a massive win and that’s forwarded on to a good performance at Newcastle and a massive win last weekend.”