5:00pm Sunday 14th March 2010
ROBERT Martinez was left stunned by Wigan’s crushing defeat at the Reebok.
The Spaniard watched his slump to a 4-0 loss against Wanderers in a one-sided contest. Martinez was horrified by his side’s poor defending as Gary Caldwell and Co contributed to their own downfall.
But the Wigan manager felt the scoreline flattered Bolton — and insisted referee Mike Dean played a crucial role in the outcome.
Martinez was furious that the official did not point to the spot when Zat Knight tangled with Hugo Rodallega after four minutes. And Dean angered the Latics boss further by then awarding the hosts a penalty a minute into the second half for Caldwell’s trip on Tamir Cohen.
“I felt there were two key moments in the game: the possible penalty on Hugo Rodallega and then the penalty in second half,” he said. “It was quite clear. Zat Knight didn’t get the ball and there was clear contact with Hugo. He’s not going to go to ground in that position with only the goalkeeper to beat.
“If he doesn’t want to give the first penalty then I can accept that — but the second one is very, very soft.
“But I’m not blaming anyone but ourselves. If you concede the goals we did then you’re not going to win games in the Premiership.
“It was a huge, huge shock. Once the first goal goes in it’s a big ask because the game goes away from you and everything become harder.
“The 4-0 scoreline is laughable — there wasn’t that much difference.”
Wigan came into the game buoyed by Monday night’s victory against Liverpool at the DW Stadium.
But Martinez believed his players were still feeling the after effects of that display.
He said: “We looked mentally drained. We suffered by playing such a big profile game on Monday and paid the price.
“We know how good we can be and we’ve shown that time after time but, unfortunately, we’ve also shown we haven’t got that consistency.
“We’re in the middle of a transition and sometimes to grow and fulfil your potential you need to get through very painful moments and today was one of them.”
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