Blackburn Rovers will consider the fortunate nature of their winner at local rivals Burnley as justice for an earlier poor decision that robbed villain of the peace Martin Olsson of the opening goal and another ‘goal that wasn’t.

Hosts Burnley were furious after referee Mike Dean, who has not got the best recent record, pointed to the spot after Olsson went down in a challenge with Brian Jensen. Television replays appeared to confirm that Olsson was not touched and a yellow card for the striker would have been the correct decision. However, David Dunn calmly dispatched the penalty that ultimately gave Blackburn all three points. Olsson also struck a fine shot against the underside of the bar and this time he was the aggrieved party as the ball did seem to have crossed the line but no goal was given.

Sam Allardyce will have been relieved that keeper Jason Roberts was not punished for handball outside the box – an offence for which he could/should have seen red – but Rovers climb back into the top half of the Premier League and send their North West neighbours closer to a swift return to Championship football.