Sanchez and Hughes united in criticism of ref Dean

But after Stephen Warnock snatched a deserved point for Blackburn with a 79th-minute equaliser, both managers took their frustration out on referee Mike Dean.

Hughes disputed the legitimacy of both Fulham goals as Sanchez vowed to despatch another letter of complaint to referees' chief Keith Hackett.

The Fulham manager said: "My weekly letter will go off to Keith tomorrow morning. It must get embarrassing showing the mistakes they're making. My DVD collection is 15 minutes long itself and that's 14 games into the season."

Dean did get a whole series of tricky decisions wrong but he succeeded in bringing a dull game to life in the process. That in itself offers one decent argument against the introduction of touchline technology.

The first half lacked quality but the second was crammed with drama after Dean awarded the home team a penalty six minutes after the restart. Diomansy Kamara tumbled easily as he and Ryan Nelsen jostled for a low cross. The Blackburn skipper was incensed but Danny Murphy sent goalkeeper Brad Friedel the wrong way from the spot.

Hughes said: "Kamara was never in control of the football. It was just two lads clashing without the ball being involved."

But Sanchez, not surprisingly, disagreed. He said: "The penalty was bang to rights. Nelsen whacked him up in the air.

"We should have had two more penalties and their first goal was offside. It was a usual day at the Cottage."

Dean should have awarded a more obvious penalty three minutes later, when Blackburn's Andre Ooijer handled under pressure from Hameur Bouazza, but he waved played on.

Blackburn were soon level through another controversial goal. Substitute Jason Roberts stood offside when he flicked a cross from Warnock to Brett Emerton, who took a touch on his chest and smashed the ball past Antti Niemi.

Roberts was on for Benni McCarthy, forced off injured after less than three minutes. Although not malicious, Dejan Stefanovic was high, late and reckless with his tackle, planting his studs near McCarthy's knee as the pair challenged for a bouncing ball.

The South African hobbled off with a gashed leg but Dean still decided not to show Stefanovic a yellow card. He eventually booked him for another foul after the break.

Kamara restored Fulham's lead within six minutes with another goal soaked in controversy. The scorer was in an offside position when Murphy threaded a pass to Simon Davies on the right, but play was allowed to continue and Kamara was unmarked to tap in the cross.

Hughes said: "When I was plying my trade, that's a stonewall offside. These days it's first phase, second phase, is he active, is he not? It's an interpretation and it's difficult to say whether it's correct or not."

Sanchez replied: "With the greatest respect to Mark, we all know the rules. It is perfectly clear if you read it.

"When you're stood three yards offside and you head the ball on, then that's offside."

Fulham have failed to win eight games from winning positions this season and when Roberts collected a throw from Ooijer, he turned and drove into the box before cutting the ball back to Warnock who arrived late to score his first goal of the season. At least nobody could dispute that