Tony Mowbray felt Geoff Eltringham 'had a game-plan' which he continued with throughout Rovers' 2-2 draw with Wigan Athletic.

Eltringham was in the thick of the action, with Rovers particularly frustrated by the award of a free-kick against Adam Armstrong from which Max Power equalised with 10 minutes to play.

The referee showed seven yellow cards, three to Rovers and four to Wigan, with the home crowd incensed that Sam Morsy and Nick Powell weren’t sent off for a string of misdemeanours.

Wigan boss Paul Cook meanwhile was frustrated that Bradley Dack wasn't penalised in the lead up to Rovers' second goal, scored by Elliott Bennett.

On the performance of the official, Mowbray added: “I think the referee had a game-plan.

“You saw the start of the game, there were a lot of ferocious tackles, a real competitive edge to the game and he didn’t blow his whistle for the first 20 minutes.

“Then I think he tried to calm it down but then started booking people willy-nilly and I feared someone was going to get sent off.

“I don’t think he refereed the game in front of him, he had a game-plan and tried to go with it and I think that caused him problems in the end.

“We stand here talking about his decisions because I don’t think he managed the game he saw.”

Despite being pegged back in the second half, Rovers still lead the way with 10 games to play.

And Mowbray said: “I thought our desire to win was massive against Wigan and we should have got all three points.

“We just have to win as many as we can, pick up as many points as we can and keep going.”