Liam Rosenior believes Mike Dean made a mistake when he sent off Dale Stephens.

But he also expressed some sympathy for the Premier League referee and suggested he was put under pressure by comments made about his appointment during the week.

Stephens saw red shortly after equalising in his side’s 1-1 draw at Middlesbrough today.

The share of the spoils meant the Seagulls missed out on promotion on goal difference.

The Argus:

Boro boss Aitor Karanka called via the media for the best possible referee to be named for the season-defining clash and hailed Dean’s appointment as “the best thing”.

Rosenior did not mention names but said: “There were things said about referees and who should be ref.

“It’s disrespectful to other referees who are in the Championship and who work so hard week in and week out.

“For that to come back and affect us leaves a bitter taste in the mouth.

“In saying that, I wish Middlesbrough all the best.

“But, for me, the English game has always been about respect. My dad played and I was brought up to always respect the referees and not comment on them.

“Mike today has been unfortunate but I would never point the finger at him or complain about refs who should or shouldn’t be refereeing football matches.

“The thing that upsets me is it always seems to be the people who put referees under pressure who get the decisions at that time – and that’s unfair on referees.

“It’s massive pressure on us, massive pressure on Middlesbrough, massive pressure on a referee today.

“We are talking about a referee’s decision that could cost us something that we have dreamt of all season when it has been pre-empted by someone before the game talking about who should and should not be refereeing a game.”

Rosenior said the impact of the dismissal was “massive” and added: “I think you could see that – and, even with ten men, we had them on the back foot.

“Dale is extremely unfortunate. We have someone who goes in for a tackle – and I wish Gaston all the best because I’ve played with him at Hull and it’s horrible injury - but it’s never a red card.

“He (Stephens) kicked the ball and Gaston in his follow through has been hurt.

“This season I bust my medial ligaments and was out for three months and it was a great tackle, a block tackle.

“You can’t give red cards for the injury to the other player.”