Steve Bruce was left fuming after “the worst penalty decision I’ve seen in a long time” denied the Blackpool boss what could have been a winning return to former club Wigan as an entertaining game ended 1-1.
Wigan led from the fourth minute, when Jon Mellish’s left-wing delivery somehow crept in at the near post past an embarrassed Harry Tyrer in the Blackpool goal.
However, the home side did not make the most of their domination in the opening hour, and Blackpool levelled 17 minutes from time thanks to a penalty by former Wigan midfielder Lee Evans.
Blackpool ended by far the stronger, and Bruce believes his side should have been awarded a second spot-kick in the closing stages – only for referee Matthew Russell to wave play on.
“It’s the worst penalty decision I’ve seen in a long time,” said Bruce. “It’s as if the referee couldn’t give two penalties in one game. The second one was a bigger penalty than the first one.
“It’s a good job there’s nothing really on it, other than three points takes us a little bit closer to where we want to get to. Enough said. We all smash into the fourth official – it’s not his fault, he can’t give it from where he is.
“How he doesn’t give it is beyond me, it’s a stonewall penalty for everyone in the ground, even their supporters would know they got away with one.”
On the game itself, Bruce added: “We didn’t play well enough in the first half, and we gifted them a goal to give them a lift. To be fair to Wigan, they’ve been on a little bit of a good run of late, so they’ve proven difficult to play against.
“I didn’t think we were anywhere near the intensity and it had a feel of an end of season game with nothing on it. In the second half, we thoroughly deserved to go on and win the game, we had a couple of good opportunities. It was more like us, we controlled the game very well.”
For Wigan head coach Ryan Lowe, it was another point on the board – and a sixth game in a row without defeat.
“It was a game of two halves, as everyone probably knows,” said Lowe. “I thought in the first half we were excellent, well worthy of the goal, no matter which way it comes, it doesn’t really matter.
“I thought we had a couple of other opportunities to score more, we failed to do that…if we’d gone in at 2-0, it’s a different game.
“In the second half, they took control, we didn’t really pass the ball, we didn’t get our foot on it, although we defended resolutely, as we always do.
“I thought if we could have shown a bit more calmness, we could have enjoyed it a little bit more, because there was no pressure on either team really.
“Our lads have had their backs against the wall since I’ve been here and that’s the mindset I want them to maintain. I’ve never wanted that as a manager, and I don’t think the lads have looked at it like that either.
“We just couldn’t get out in that second half, because Blackpool were on the front foot, and they ended up getting their goal. But I certainly don’t think we were there waiting for the season to fizzle out, because I’ll never be like that as a manager.”
