Angry Valerian Ismael claims referee ‘wanted to help’ Ipswich

Blackburn boss Valerien Ismael appeared to accuse of referee Oliver Langford of favouring Ipswich after seeing his side concede a late equaliser in a 1-1 draw at Ewood Park.

A furious Ismael put himself at risk of a Football Association charge as he said of the experienced Langford, “maybe it’s because…it’s a former Premier League club, he wanted to help them” as he raged against a number of decisions in this replay of a match abandoned back in September.

The key incident came just before half-time when Azor Matusiwa was only booked for bringing down Ryoya Morishita when the Japanese forward looked to be through on goal.

Ismael, upset this game was being played at all as Rovers had been 1-0 up against 10 men before a waterlogged pitch forced the abandonment in September, also claimed Rovers should have had a penalty when Yuki Ohashi went down before the break, although it would have been soft.

Blackburn were doggedly holding on to the lead given to them by Andri Gudjohnsen’s 76th-minute header but as they tried to hold possession by the corner flag in the dying stages, Ipswich were awarded a disputed goal-kick and seconds later Sindre Walle Egeli levelled with almost the last kick of the game.

“Enough is enough,” Ismael said. “We can put a list for all the decisions against us this season.

“The (decision not to give a) red card is a disgrace, it’s terrible. I can’t accept that. It’s a penalty on Yuki. The last situation is a corner for us again. The standard from the referee(s) in the Championship is terrible.

“The teams fighting to get promoted invest a lot of money to keep a very nice Championship, to play football, and every game every three days it’s always the same with the decisions, the standard is really, really poor and it’s unacceptable when I see the list of decision-making against us.

“At some point it can happen, one or two decisions I didn’t say anything. But now the red card is obvious. Maybe it’s because it’s…a former Premier League club, he wanted to help them, because nobody can understand.”

Ipswich boss Kieran McKenna admitted he could understand Ismael’s frustration when it came to Matusiwa’s booking but denied it was a clear-cut decision.

“I think from my eyes on the sidelines it could have gone either way,” the Northern Irishman said.

“(Morishita) is ahead of Azor and he’s got a really quick player (Leif Davis) chasing him down on an angle.

“I’d normally want the referee not to send a player off if it’s borderline in the first half. But I’m sure if I was on their side I’d want the red card as well. It went our way tonight.”

Blackburn conceded a stoppage-time equaliser for a second game running to leave them only four points above the relegation zone while Ipswich, who had a six-game unbeaten run ended by defeat at Oxford on Friday, sit a point outside the play-off places.