"Should know better" - Blackburn Rovers player slammed for controversial Norwich City flashpoint | OneFootball

FLW's Blackburn Rovers fan pundit believes Dom Hyam was lucky to have not been dismissed in his side's 1-1 draw with Norwich City on Saturday

This article is part of Football League World's 'Terrace Talk' series, which provides personal opinions from our FLW Fan Pundits regarding the latest breaking news, teams, players, managers, potential signings and more…

Blackburn Rovers defender Dominic Hyam has been slammed for elbowing Norwich City's Angus Gunn during the 1-1 draw between the two sides over the weekend, with the Scotsman arguably fortunate to have not been dismissed.

Valerien Ismael secured a dramatic draw in his first game in charge after coming in to replace John Eustace, who left for Championship strugglers Derby County last month.

Blackburn and Norwich are separated by just four points and three places in the ever-intensifying race for the final two second-tier play-off spots. Both sides would have wanted to come away from the encounter with all three points to bolster their own respective play-off bids, but were instead forced to settle for a draw as a frantic finale took place.

January signing Emmanuel Dennis was handed his marching orders in the 85th minute, before Ante Crnac opened the scoring for the Canaries five minutes later. The Croatian forward looked to have won the game for Norwich, but Andi Weimann had other ideas and sent Ewood Park into raptures by equalising in the sixth minute of added time.

However, Blackburn may consider themselves fortunate to have not seen another dismissal earlier on in the game for Hyam. Gunn had caught a cross and was looking to launch a swift counter-attack, but Hyam cut across and threw out an arm that caught the shot-stopper in the face.

Gunn fell to the ground as a result, though referee Leigh Doughty did not take any action.

Honest Blackburn Rovers verdict offered on Dom Hyam, Angus Gunn flashpoint

The incident was widely discussed both during and after the match, with many Blackburn supporters feeling that their defender was very fortunate to have not seen red there and then.

That school of thought is echoed by FLW's Rovers fan pundit, Simon Middlehurst, who slammed Hyam for what he believes was a reckless and silly decision after being quizzed on the matter.

"Honest thoughts, Blackburn massively got away with that with Dom Hyam," Simon told FLW.

"I'm not entirely sure what he was thinking, an experienced player like him should know better.

"I think in some respects, we're lucky VAR isn't in the Championship because if it was, that would've been a straight red.

"Fortunately, Hayden Carter has come back [from injury] so if he was suspended, we did have some sort of cover because Danny Batth is out injured and him and Hyam are our two main centre backs.

"Luckily we've got Carter back because I don't think Dion Sanderson has performed to what was expected of him. But yeah, we definitely expect better from Hyam, I don't know what he was doing.

"It was a silly decision and a silly action on his part."

Blackburn Rovers need Dom Hyam for upcoming fixtures

Blackburn have a number of players currently out injured, such as the aforementioned Batth along with Harry Pickering and Owen Beck. A three-match suspension for Hyam, who has started each of the side's 35 league fixtures this term, would have been the last thing Ismael needed.

Rovers must be looking to capitalise on their next three or four fixtures ahead of the final season run-in. Next on the list is a reunion with Eustace at Derby on Saturday afternoon before two more consecutive clashes against relegation-threatened sides in Stoke City and Cardiff.

Blackburn need as many players available in the final 11 matches of the campaign as they push to seal a play-off spot and will be fortunate that Hyam was not dismissed, even if almost everybody can agree Doughty made the wrong call this time.