Rovers head coach Jon Dahl Tomasson felt the red card shown to Daniel Ayala was ‘very harsh’.

The stand-in captain was sent off with 15 minutes remaining of the 1-1 draw at Bristol City.

The 32-year-old was booked in the first half for catching Mark Sykes with a high boot, while his second was for pulling back Nahki Wells.

However, Tomasson felt that Wells ran into Ayala, and also believed that referee Tim Robinson should have given more thought as to whether it was worthy of a second yellow card.

Rovers’ protestations continued for several minutes after the decision before they held out for their first draw of the season.

Ayala will now miss Rovers’ FA Cup tie with Birmingham City as he serves his one-match suspension.

However, given the Spaniard hasn’t featured in any of Rovers’ five cup games to date, he was unlikely to have featured.

“I thought it was very harsh,” Tomasson said.

“The first yellow card I didn’t see, the second yellow for me wasn’t a second yellow card.

“I think the Bristol City player was clever, he ran into Daniel.

“It was a very clever situation. Is it a yellow card? I don’t think so.

“Of course the referee needed to make a decision very quick, I know that, but it’s a harsh yellow card to give when you know it’s his second.”

Hayden Carter slotted in at centre half alongside the recalled Scott Wharton for the closing stages.

And Tomasson added: “Going down to 10 men, very harsh, it was great to see the fighting spirit, the way they worked together to get a point to take back to Blackburn, I’m very pleased.”

Wharton missed the Rotherham win due to concussion and was handed his first league start since December 10.

Ash Phillips, who came on at Rotherham when Dom Hyam went off injured, travelled with the squad but didn’t make the matchday 18.