WANDERERS were left rueing two penalty decisions as they capped off a hellish week with a hard-fought point against Wigan Athletic.

Phil Parkinson felt Jack Hobbs was unfortunate to concede a first-half penalty for a challenge on Will Grigg – converted by the Northern Ireland international to cancel out Will Buckley’s opener.

But referee Simon Hooper then angered Wanderers fans further when he turned down a penalty appeal in the dying minutes for an apparent handball from Sam Morsy as Mark Beevers hooked the ball back towards the six yard box.

“I think everyone in the ground knew that Hobbsy’s challenge wasn’t a penalty, apart from two people,” fumed Parkinson after the final whistle. “That’s very disappointing.

“The second one, I thought the rule was that if your arms are in a un-natural positon it was a penalty and that’s what happened.

“You’d just like to think that after the referee knows he’s given a very contentious decision in the first half, that one, which is 60-40, we would have got it.

“I am disappointed with the referee’s performance again, and I don’t think the supporters will think ‘oh he’s moaning about the refs again’. They all watched the same game and knew he was very poor.

“It was such a shame because we played well up to their goal. We felt sorry for ourselves with that bit of injustice but the lads dug deep, not for us, but for themselves.

“After the week we’ve had, we’ll take the point.”

Wanderers players found out just 48 hours before the game they would not paid their monthly wage on time – and Ken Anderson, who was not present at the game – has assured them the funds will be in accounts by Thursday.

The disruption posed serious problems for Parkinson’s preparations but the Bolton boss was impressed by the way his players handled themselves on the day.

“When you look at the group of lads I’ve got, we keep going,” he said.

“We know we need to improve in certain areas but you can’t fault the resilience of the group of players.

“When you go to work on Monday morning and haven’t been paid then think to yourself ‘what would I be feeling like?’ I’d be pretty demotivated. But the lads put it to one side and I am very pleased we put in that performance, even though it was only a point.”

Wigan boss Paul Cook had no qualms with referee Hooper's performance.

On the first penalty call, he said: “I haven’t seen it (Hobbs on Grigg) but their bench wasn’t happy about it. Hindsight in football is a wonderful thing.

“The first challenge of the game the referee could easily have given a red. They are the debatable points in football.

“Both teams were committed trying to win the game so I think the referee did a decent enough job.”

And on the second, Cook added: “You could have seen why he might have given it. You are thinking I need to see that again.  But I really didn’t see it because I was staring at the floor praying at the time.

“I’m pleased with the point. It was always going to be a difficult game as Bolton came into game under pressures that go on in football.

"Bolton supporters got behind their team really well and Phil will be delighted by how his players played on the back of a three-game week.

"Could we have converted one or two of the good chances we created? Possibly-but at least we take a point away with us.

“It is such a tough league for players and managers. This is my first time managing at this level. It has to be a learning curve.

“The biggest  credit I can pay the lads is that the disappointment of going behind didn’t affect us. And that was important.

“At times we looked as though we could take control of the game without ever doing  that. And that was great credit to Bolton and the way they played.

“Points are gold in this league because it is a tough division. That’s 25 points from 20 games but we keep working away.

“If we could have won it would have capped a great week for the club but we never. However, a point is better than nothing.”