Lee Bowyer refused to blame refereeing decisions for their 2-0 defeat by Blackburn Rovers.

Tony Mowbray’s men ran out comfortable winners at The Valley on Saturday thanks to first half goals from John Buckley and Tosin Adarabioyo.

Bowyer conceded his side failed to deal with the horrendous conditions and it was Rovers’ ability to adapt to the adverse weather and not Andy Davies’s performance that cost his side, although it was clear he felt Adarabioyo’s goal shouldn’t of stood.

“Conditions don’t make it more difficult (to officiate), they shouldn’t” he said.

“They scored a goal from a free-kick that was never a foul.

“But at the end of the day, that’s not the reason we lost the game.

“We lost it because they were better than us on the day.”

One dangerous tackle which did go unpunished was Adarabioyo’s second half challenge on Andre Green. With his back to goal, Green felt the full force of the rangy defender going through the back of hm on the edge of the box, an incident that didn’t sit well with Bowyer.

“Andre Green gets tackled near on knee-high on edge of box, and it’s not a yellow card.

“I’ve said many times I don’t want to see yellow cards but I see my players getting lots of yellow cards for not half that bad.

“I won’t say anything about the referee because I’ve been in enough trouble and it’s pointless asking me.

“I would love to tell you what I really think, but I’m not going to.”