David Facey, The Sun:
Awarding a spot-kick seemed fair enough as Tugay appeared to trip Ghaly but it hardly seemed premeditated or callous enough to warrant a straight red. It was a ridiculously harsh ruling.Tugay's silky passing and uncanny anticipation were illuminating this scrappy affair before his exit.
The first sighting of the Mido came when he was booked. When he finally got a sniff of goal he was the one holding his head in his hands after two woeful misses.
The home team probably deserved to edge it on the balance of play.
Even after they had been reduced to 10 men they showed plenty of attacking intent, without carving out too many clear-cut chances.
The elusive Benni McCarthy threatened a few times, while Jermain Defoe also threatened for Spurs.
But they were isolated moments in a game where the ball was given up far too easily.
No one other than Tugay seemed to have the vision to pick out an unmarked team-mate in space.
He deserved centre stage — until Dowd sent him to the wings and assumed the pivotal role himself.
DREAM TEAM STAR MAN - ROBBIE SAVAGE (Blackburn). Covered every blade for his team.
David Anderson, Daily Mirror: It was a crazy match. Tugay had been the best player on the park and did not deserve a straight red card when there was no intent.
His goal jolted Tottenham into action and Blackburn were vulnerable in the middle.
Rovers' backline continued to creak but to Blackburn's credit, their 10 men kept attacking.
Then just as the game was petering out, all hell broke loose.
Oliver Kay, The Times: It was a match full of rancour and low on quality.
This was not the worst refereeing display you will see. Plenty of marginal decisions went against Blackburn.
With Robbie Keane left on the bench throughout and the ineffective Mido retained for 90 minutes, it was not too easy to understand Martin Jol's thinking, but at least Jermain Defoe took the one opportunity he got.
That was a relief to a Tottenham team who had seemed on course for another miserable day after Tugay's superb opener.
Thereafter, with precious little entertainment of the football variety, it was the Phil Dowd Show.
Mark Ogden, Daily Telegraph: A game that should have been memorable for Tugay's stunning first-half goal ultimately became a story of unfathomable officiating by the Phil Dowd and his assistants.
How the assistant referee arrived at the decision that it was an intentional foul to prevent a goalscoring opportunity is something perhaps only he will know. A debatable penalty had suddenly become a red card offence that saw the game's best and most creative player ordered off the pitch.
Goalkeeper Brad Friedel was unfortunate not to keep out Defoe's penalty and Blackburn, despite being down to 10 men, looked the most likely to add to the scoring. A debatable Mido penalty incident went against the home side and Benni McCarthy had a flick well saved by Robinson.
Stuart James, The Guardian:
Jermain Defoe was impressive on his return to the starting line-up.Tottenham had been poor up to conceding, with Defoe the sole player in the visitors' line-up who looked like troubling Blackburn.
This was a match that Blackburn could easily have been won before the loss of their midfield fulcrum.
Phil Dowd dictated that this fixture would be remembered for anything but footballing reasons.
Man of the match Jermain Defoe
Andy Hunter, The Independent: Tottenham failed to impress against a Blackburn team harshly reduced to 10 men for the final half hour.
The penalty broke Rovers' dominant momentum if not their resolve as they looked the more likely victors even when diminished. Meanwhile, it was a subdued away display by Spurs.
Only Jermain Defoe carried any menace for the visitors, a threat that justified the Tottenham jeers when he was replaced by Dimitar Berbatov late on, and yet he was only a peripheral figure in the equaliser that had appeared beyond his side even though he scored it.
Spurs' distribution improved immeasurably after an hour.