Tottenham's manager, Harry Redknapp, was furious after his side's 2–1 defeat to Blackburn, placing the blame squarely on the dismissal of Wilson Palacios.

Redknapp was incensed by the referee Peter Walton's decision to send the midfielder off in the 80th minute, opening the door for late goals from Benni McCarthy and Andre Ooijer to overturn Robbie Keane's first-half penalty.

"I've got to say the referee made a big mistake sending Wilson off," Redknapp said. "We'd dominated the game and I couldn't see them scoring a goal if they'd played all night when we had 11. But to lose a midfield player who had probably been our biggest player today gave them a massive lift. From a game we had complete control of we've come away with nothing … unbelievable."

The Spurs manager hinted that the home crowd's reaction may have swayed the referee. "Wilson made no contact at all with David Dunn and I think he was embarrassed because he got up and shook Wilson's hand," he said, "but the crowd started shouting and he's decided to send him off."

The Rovers manager, Sam Allardyce, was impressed with his team's battling qualities after being forced to press the defender Chris Samba into a makeshift role up front following an injury to Jason Roberts.

"It was desire, a bit of determination, overcoming adversity, never giving up, never saying die – which I don't think we've done since I've been here," said the Blackburn manager. "It probably was one of our lesser performances but that doesn't matter; it's all about results. We've nicked a win and we're very happy."