Neil Warnock turned the air blue on Teesside after Middlesbrough were denied a penalty and lost the wounded Dael Fry in the same incident on the way to a defeat that hampers their promotion hopes.
Warnock, Boro’s septuagenerian boss, let rip at referee Dean Whitehouse after Blackburn’s on-loan Everton defender Jarrad Branthwaite kicked his opponent under the right eye contesting a Paddy McNair delivery into the area after an initial corner was cleared.
Fry, who stands 6ft 4ins, hit the turf screaming as his header flew wide and had to be substituted. The gash was stitched up at the Riverside as the match continued.