(Credit: Sky Sports and Imago)

Keith Hackett

Mon 14 April 2025 17:42, UK

Kristi Montgomery endured a disappointing ending to his full Blackburn Rovers debut against Luton, although Keith Hackett has sympathy with 20-year-old.

The former PGMOL chief and ex-FIFA official exclusively told Football Insider that the second yellow card shown to the versatile midfielder by referee David Webb was incorrect.

There plenty of promising prospects in the Rovers academy with Arsenal currently understood to be interested in Harvey Higgins.

Meanwhile, another Blackburn youngster in the form of Joe Boggan has several suitors across Europe following his excellent recent form.

Montgomery though is currently breaking into the senior setup with the Championship club, even if he was dealt a frustrating setback at the weekend.

Blackburn Rovers youngster sent off on first start

Earlier in the week, Montgomery had come off the bench to fill in for the injured Joe Rankin-Costello at right-back in a 2-2 draw with Sheffield Wednesday.

An impressive performance ensured the academy graudate then earned his first start for Blackburn away at Luton on Saturday (12 April).

However, that outing would come to a premature end for the 20-year-old, who was shown a second yellow card by for supposedly bringing down Millenic Alli with a push just before the hour-mark.

Replays though showed that the contact was minimal, and so Hackett believes there should not have been enough in the challenge to warrant a second yellow card for the Blackburn ace.

‘Kristi Montgomery unfortunate’ – Keith Hackett

After being asked by Football Insider whether he thought the decision to give Montgomery that second yellow was the right one, Hackett said:

“It’s harsh. I think referees are being coached completely differently now than in my day. A player on a yellow card, I’m looking for that second yellow to be more like an orange.

“Let me say this, if that offence had taken place in a penalty area at a corner kick, would he have been penalised and a penalty kick awarded? Answer, no.

“There’s far more pushing going on in the penalty area that’s much clearer that goes unpunished. There might have been a bit of naivety but apply a bit of common sense!

“Is that worthy of a second yellow card? It’s a foul, but not a second yellow. He’s not stopped a promising attack because the ball’s going out of play. I’d just like a bit more empathy with the game.”

Despite the sending off for Montgomery, Blackburn were able to secure a 1-0 win thanks to a goal by Yuki Ohashi, giving Valerien Ismael his first win since being appointed head coach at the eighth attempt.

Luton though remain mired in the bottom three and facing the prospect of a second consecutive relegation, with the Hatters three points from safety with four games to play.