Blackburn Rovers man left with 'big bite mark' after incident with Preston North End striker

Blackburn Rovers manager John Eustace has labelled Milutin Osmajic’s ‘bite’ on Owen Beck as a ‘very serious incident’.

Late on in Sunday’s goalless draw at Deepdale, tempers flared after Beck’s foul on Preston North End midfielder Duane Holmes - and the Rovers man was shown a straight red card. But, in the aftermath of the challenge, substitute Osmajic approached the opposition player - and replays showed him appearing to bite Beck on the neck. The number 28 was shown a yellow card in the game, but retrospective action could follow - judging by Eustace’s comments.

"I haven't really seen it, he went to clear the ball and possibly caught the lad," Eustace said, on the sending off. “He's got a big bite mark on the back of his neck. It's a shame the referee didn't see that as well. He has been in and shown the lads. He's very disappointed to be sent off and you don't expect him to have that either. He's a bit quiet in there and a bit shaken up.

“I don't know if he spoke to the referee. I'm not sure if it was before or after the red. He might want to speak to the officials about it. It's a very serious incident, nobody likes to be bitten. Everyone is angry about it, it's not a nice situation to be in. I'm sure the right people will see it and deal with it. The way the second half went, Preston managed the game very well.

“I think the referee got sucked into the cheap fouls and the yellow cards. It certainly got the Preston fans up and rightly so. I am happy with our boys. I think there was a really good fighting spirit, a second clean sheet in a row which is pleasing. We didn't play the football we wanted to today but we showed another side of our game where we had to stay in the game and limited them up until the last minute.”