Alex Revell believed Stevenage should have drawn as a “minimum” in Saturday’s 2-1 League One loss at home to Wigan – only to be denied by a stunning free-kick from Thelo Aasgaard.
The Latics had taken the lead through Dale Taylor 10 minutes into the second half only for Dan Kemp to equalise after 83 minutes.
That was nine minutes after Wigan’s Jensen Weir had been given a straight red card for a cynical trip.
However, Stevenage would end up with 10 men too, Louis Thompson picking up a second yellow and giving away a free-kick that the in-form Aasgaard curled into the top corner, five minutes into stoppage-time.
“First half I thought we were the better team and had the better opportunities without probably creating too much in the final third,” said Revell.
“Second half, they came into the game, Taylor coming on made a difference to them.
“We’ve conceded from a free-kick where we’ve not tracked the runner and allowed someone to get across us.
“But when we equalised, it seemed like there was only one team that was going to go and win it.
“But their winning goal is just a lack of organisation and it is something we have to learn very quickly because you don’t lose that game, you win it or the minimum is, you come out with a draw
“It comes down to decision making at the end there. We lost our composure.
“The winner is a sucker punch but even after that, we had an opportunity to cross the ball and we put it beyond everybody.
“We just lacked quality in certain areas and we got punished.”
Opposite number Shaun Maloney hailed his match-winner’s contribution and not just for the goal.
The Wigan boss said: “This is a massive win for us, really big.
“We had to dig in when we went down to 10 men and then they scored and had all the momentum.
“But Thelo then produces just a brilliant moment again.
“The goal is brilliant but the way he played when we went down to 10 men was probably the most impressive thing for me.
“He went to another level, he’s become a real leader for us.
“When we went down to 10, every time the ball came into him, he was holding it up and trying to beat players.
“He was outstanding in the second half.
“But the rest of the team was brilliant too, I really liked us in the second half up until the sending off.
“That was down to the players, they knew what we had to do and they showed lots of bravery.”
