Mark Hughes leapt to the defence of his players after they were accused of using bully-boy tactics in their FA Cup semi-final with Arsenal at the Millennium Stadium, on this day in 2005.

Rovers’ dreams of reaching the final for the first time in 45 years ended in heartache as goals from Robert Pires and a Robin Van Persie brace saw Arsenal to victory.

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 and Robbie Savage that didn’t result in cautions.

Meanwhile, Andy Todd was facing an FA charge after catching Van Persie in the face with his forearm following the Dutchman’s second goal.

The incident was missed by match referee Steve Dunn but several members of the Arsenal camp later suggested Todd did it deliberately.

However, Hughes denied his players over-stepped the mark and believed Rovers were getting unfairly labelled as a dirty side because of previous comments made by Chelsea boss Jose Mourinho.

“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 Todd caught 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 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, no stranger to a big occasion.

“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.

“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 (against Crystal Palace).

“I think the fans showed their appreciation at the end for our efforts up to this point and they were fantastic.”