Sheffield Wednesday will appeal the red card shown to midfielder Massimo Luongo in the 5-0 defeat to Rovers.

Wednesday were reduced to 10 men in the 24th minute when the Australian was given his marching orders by referee Jarred Gillet following a challenge on Lewis Travis.

Owls boss Garry Monk said it was ‘100 per cent not a red card’ but accepted that it was his side’s start to the game, and not Luongo’s dismissal, that proved costly to his side.

Monk said the decision surprised everyone on the touchline, but he admits his side will need to take criticism on the chin for what happened across the 90 minutes as Rovers inflicted a heavy defeat on the Owls who started the day in the top six.

“Of course the red card changes it, but I don’t want to use that as an excuse,” Monk said.

“It’s 100 per cent not a red card. There’s no intention to it, no malice, there’s no aggression.

“Speaking to all of their players and their staff and ours, nobody could quite believe that it was a red card.

“For me as a manager and when you have a result like that, it’s not acceptable and quite rightly we will receive criticism.

“We have to take that on the chin and take responsibility for that, me as a manager for sure, with that type of result and scoreline.”

Wednesday were in buoyant mood heading in to the game coming off the back of an impressive win at Leeds United seven days earlier, and an FA Cup triumph at Brighton.

But their form at Hillsborough has taken a dip, Rovers inflicting a third successive home defeat on Monk’s side, following Hull City and Cardiff City in leaving with all three points.

“It’s two steps forward and one step back with that performance and result,” Monk added.

“As far as I’m concerned it was the first 10 minutes that cost us.

“We didn’t take our opportunities to move forward, we turned around or moved sideways and you can’t do that in the Championship.

“We’ve been punished in the worst possible way.

“It’s hurts, it hurts a lot, but one thing for sure is that we will stick together as a group.”