Blackburn Rovers boss Sam Allardyce has defended Martin Olsson against the barrage of criticism faced by the young star this week.

Olsson has been roundly condemned for apparently claiming he dived to win the penalty that enabled Blackburn to beat Burnley in their local derby on Sunday.

Allardyce insists the Swedish winger's comments have been twisted, but despite that, has still been forced to take internal action to underline the fact he does not condone such behaviour.

"I'm not sure, first and foremost, that Martin said what he did, but unfortunately for him and us, he's been criticised unfairly," said Allardyce.

"We all know he has gone down easily, anticipating a challenge that was going to come.

"From where I was sat in the directors' box there was no doubt at all in my mind it was a penalty.

"From Mike Dean's position there was no doubt as well, but we can see from other angles after the game that it wasn't.

"In fairness, the times we've been hard done by outweighs 10-fold the fact we got this one in our favour."