Blackburn Rovers boss Gary Bowyer has criticised Luke Murphy for the "bad challenge" that left Grant Hanley requiring stitches.

The 23-year-old had to be withdrawn in the second half of Thursday evening's meeting with Leeds United following a collision with Murphy, which left him suffering from a migraine.

Bowyer was unhappy with the clash, but remained optimistic when providing an injury update on his skipper ahead of next week's match against Birmingham City.

"I thought it was a bad challenge on him," he told the club's official website. "He's got stitches and then he suffered a migraine so we had to make the call to bring him off.

"It wasn't concussion or anything like that, it was a migraine, but it was great that we had someone of the calibre of Matt Kilgallon to come on and we are delighted with that."

Blackburn went on to win the game 2-0 at Elland Road, courtesy of two goals inside the opening six minutes.