AS a defender of some note during his playing career, Sam Allardyce knew when to put a tackle in - and when not to.
So it was speaking with a degree of authority when he labelled his own side's defending as ridiculous' as they handed two penalties to Blackburn Rovers on a platter.
Gary Speed and Abdoulaye Faye were the guilty parties, and both incurred their manager's wrath as they brought down David Bentley and Benni McCarthy respectively in a mad 10 minutes at the Reebok.
"If you are going to make a tackle because you think someone is going through and definitely going to score a goal, fine," Allardyce reasoned in a brief, but concise post-mortem of his side's 2-1 defeat. "But when both players are going absolutely nowhere, and the ball is probably going to run out, then it is really disappointing to happen not just once, but twice.
"That was the ultimately the difference in the game."
There threatened a hint of controversy late in the game when Faye looked as if he had atoned for his earlier error to grab a late, late equaliser.
But Allardyce had few complaints after looking at the post-match replays, which proved conclusively that the Senegal international was marginally offside.
"It looked just slightly offside," Allardyce agreed. "It was a shame that such a monstrous header has been disallowed firstly because it was a terrific goal and secondly because of the joy it would have brought us for stealing a point.
"Sometimes they go for you, sometimes they don't. More often than not you hope they go for you at home when there is some doubt.
"But it is our own fault for giving away two ridiculous penalties today."
There was a certain irony that two penalties had settled Sunday's game in Blackburn's favour, after Jussi Jaaskelainen's double penalty save had snatched the headlines in the corresponding fixture back in October. That time, the big Finn guessed right to deny McCarthy and Jason Roberts - but he could do nothing to stop Rovers seizing the all-important first goal at the Reebok.
"We tried to get back into it, but gave ourselves too much to do," Allardyce said.
"It's very rare in the Premiership you can give away the first goal and still get the win. With two goals it is even more rare. We nearly pulled it off today, but sadly it wasn't to be."
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