Birmingham boss Rooney on loss to Rangers and referee flu

Birmingham boss Wayne Rooney was frustrated with the referees after his side’s 4-2 loss to Rangers.

Sam Smodic scored twice, with James Sheila and Harry Leonard also on the scoresheet as Jon Dahl Thomason’s side registered back-to-back wins in the league.

Rooney highlighted an early challenge from Lewis Travis but he was not punished at half-time.

“I think the officials need to protect (Dembélé),” he said. “From the first minute there were three or four tackles that were booked.

“The lad (Travis) got a yellow card because it was the first minute of the game and five minutes later it was a yellow card and he got a second one.”

Despite the result, Rooney felt there were many positives to take from his side’s performance at Ewood Park.

However, the former England international ruined some of Rangers’ goals against what he described as a “schoolboy defence”.

“The goal was very bad from our point of view,” he continued. “I thought for most of the game we performed really well and caused Blackburn problems.

“But the target is the students and, of course, I take responsibility for that. As defenders, goalkeepers and midfielders, we need to get better because we can’t keep letting teams score against us like this.

“I think in the first half, we really silenced their fans and didn’t give them momentum. The first five minutes of the second half, we did the opposite and that cost us the game. “After such a positive performance, It’s hard to sit here and accept defeat. “

Rooney added: “In the first half we pressed a little deeper than we had been doing because Blackburn wanted to play in the middle of the pitch.

“We feel like we have the body to win the ball and be aggressive, and then we can break that down.

“We played really well in the first half and created some good chances. “We have to be more clinical as well. “

The result leaves the Blues 16th in the table, having won just once in seven games since Rooney came on to replace John Eustace.