Watch: Owen Beck accuses Preston’s Milutin Osmajic of biting in unsavoury end to Lancashire derby

Blackburn Rovers full-back Owen Beck appeared to be bitten on his neck by Preston North End’s Milutin Osmajic in an extraordinary final few minutes of their Lancashire derby on Sunday.

Beck, who is on loan at Blackburn from Liverpool, was sent off shortly after clashing with Osmajic, with the referee seemingly unaware of the alleged bite by the Preston player.

Beck could be seen pleading with the officials and trying to show them the back of his neck, while saying: “I’ve got a bite mark.”

But it was Beck who was shown a red card, after kicking out at Preston’s Duane Holmes as players from both sides scuffled in the 88th minute.

Television replays appear to show Osmajic, 25, clamping his teeth onto the back of Beck’s neck during the melee near the corner flag.

John Eustace, the Blackburn head coach, said Beck was simply trying to clear the ball when he clattered Holmes, and then claimed the 22-year-old had displayed the bite mark in the dressing room.

“I haven’t really seen it, he went to clear the ball and possibly caught the lad,” said Eustace of the red card incident. “He’s got a big bite mark on the back of his neck.

“It’s a shame the referee didn’t see that as well. He’s got a big bite mark. He has been in and shown the lads. He’s very disappointed to be sent off and you don’t expect him to have that either.”

Osmajic, the Montenegro international, could now face a lengthy ban if he is found to have bitten Beck, with a precedent set by then-Liverpool striker Luis Suarez’s 10-game ban for biting Chelsea’s Branislav Ivanovic in 2013.

Both teams ended the goalless draw with 10 men after Preston’s Sam Greenwood had been sent off in the first half for a late challenge on Blackburn’s Lewis Baker.

Paul Heckingbottom, the Preston manager, said: “All I can say is that there’s no place for [biting]. Mistimed tackles, things like that are part and parcel of the game, you accept them, anything that is not has to be dealt with.”