Blackburn were hoping to celebrate Tugay's 294th and final appearance for the club with a victory but they were left debating the second half dismissal of striker Jason Roberts in a 0-0 draw with West Brom at Ewood Park.

Roberts was red carded 10 minutes after stepping off the bench by referee Mike Jones for an apparent off-the-ball incident with Jonas Olsson.

The decision left most people baffled, not least manager Sam Allardyce, who shook his head in bewilderment.

With Rovers safe and West Brom relegated the match had the feel of a testimonial for Tugay after eight seasons at Ewood Park.

Chris Brunt skipped away from Stephen Warnock in the fifth minute and rattled in a shot that was diverted to safety by Gael Givet, but Blackburn dominated from there, Christopher Samba seeing one effort clear the bar and then hitting the post after 15 minutes.

Dean Kiely had to be alert five minutes later to parry Morten Gamst Pedersen's superb free-kick and a minute later Tugay's instinctive effort went wide of the post.

Blackburn had a scare in the 38th minute when Brunt thumped in a shot, but it went narrowly wide of Paul Robinson's left hand post.

Robinson then somehow got his hands to a Brunt thunderbolt and pushed the ball onto the bar.

West Brom continued to improve after the break but Gianni Zuiverloon failed to get any power on his shot before Robert Koren struck wide.

Roberts then came on for Samba on the hour with Allardyce hoping he would give them a cutting edge.