Bruce casts Dugarry in role of Blues saviour

Blackburn Rovers 1 Birmingham City 1

Complaints that games have been ruined by sendings off are as old as the concept of a referee. This might be a rare case of one that improved immeasurably as a spectacle by a red mist followed by a red card.

Andy Todd was the perpetrator, dismissed for a kick on Christophe Dugarry which the Birmingham manager, Steve Bruce, described as "an outrage'', which is pretty strong stuff in the football lexicon.

But Todd's indiscretion probably prevented the afternoon from becoming predictable and routine and transformed the match into one that required both sides to overcome their different hardships.

For Blackburn that meant playing for more than an hour with 10 men, but Birmingham had their cross to bear as well. Apart from their dismal recent record in the Premiership, they also had to weather further depletions to their limited defensive resources.

Already without the injured Darren Purse and Kenny Cunningham, they lost Michael Johnson and Steve Vickers to further injuries and finished with Robbie Savage and Damien Johnson playing in an ad hoc central defensive partnership as Bruce threw every attacking player at his disposal into the quest for an equaliser.

By the time they got it, a header from Stern John eight minutes from time, it was deserved, but there had been plenty of early evidence to suggest that they would have been played off Ewood Park by 11 men.

Todd's sending off was the result of Blackburn's running feud with Dugarry, the French international making his second appearance for City. In among the silky touches of quality befitting a World Cup winner, Dugarry issued a few reminders that an agent provocateur is not just a posh brand of knickers.

Todd was the man who took the bait, but there was a feeling for much of an ill-tempered first half that one Rover or other was going to nail him.

Graeme Souness should take a small percentage of the blame for that. Before the sending off, he had been prowling the touchline from which he has already been banned this season, pointing at Dugarry in protest against his part in previous incidents.

Small wonder that, like Henry II's knights, someone should have got a little over excited and decided to try to rid him of the turbulent Frenchman, especially after Dugarry had taken a little peck at Todd. Despite that, Souness later described Dugarry as "a super player'' – one obvious area of agreement with Bruce.

Despite Dugarry's record for chunks of his career as a non-scoring striker, Bruce has the Frenchman cast in the role of City's saviour. "He's a top, top, top class player. We need to protect him and so do referees,'' he said with a metaphorical nod in the direction of Todd, whose kick on Dugarry he described as "vicious''.

"I'm delighted with him and he's going to be a big part of us staying up''

Goals: Duff (19) 1-0; John (83) 1-1.

Blackburn Rovers (4-4-2): Friedel 7; Neill 6, Taylor 7, Todd 3, McEveley 6; Thompson 6, Flitcroft 5, Tugay 6, Duff 7; Yorke 5 (Johansson 6, 34), Cole 6 (Jansen 5, 73). Substitutes not used: Gillespie, Ostenstad, Kelly (gk).

Birmingham City (4-4-2): Bennett 7; Kenna 6 (John 6, 74), Vickers 5 (Devlin 5, 34), M Johnson 5 (Kirovski 5, 63), Clapham 6; D Johnson 6, Savage 5, Cissé 5, Lazaridis 7; Dugarry 7, Morrison 5. Substittues not used: Coly, Vaesen (gk).

Referee: C Wilkes (Gloucestershire) 6.

Bookings: Blackburn: Neill, Tugay. Birmingham: Lazaridis, Dugarry, Clapham. Sent off: Blackburn: Todd.

Man of the match: Duff.

Attendance: 23,331.