Martinez laments 'non-existent' free kick

Wigan boss Roberto Martinez was left bemoaning the rough end of a refereeing decision after his side’s promising run of results was brought to a crashing halt by a 4-1 home defeat against Sunderland.

The Latics had come through a sequence of seven games including matches against Arsenal, Liverpool, Chelsea and Manchester United with a creditable nine points and could have climbed out of the bottom three with victory at the DW Stadium last night.

The first fixture in that run was a win over Sunderland at the Stadium of Light that spelled the end of Steve Bruce’s reign, but the Black Cats proved a very different proposition under Martin O’Neill.

After Wigan had dominated the first half, the visitors took the lead in stoppage time via a free-kick awarded by referee Mike Dean for a debatable foul by Ben Watson on Nicklas Bendtner that Craig Gardner crashed into the top corner from 30 yards.

Martinez said: “The first goal was going to be vital. In the situation that Sunderland were, they had an outstanding result two days ago [1-0 home win over Manchester City] and we knew we were going to play a side with great confidence but probably who were going to sit deep and defend.

“It was going to be a matter of creating enough chances to open them up and score the first goal. I was delighted that we were patient in the first half, we opened them up two or three times and hit the post twice.

“They were key moments and then Sunderland take the lead with a world-class strike from a free-kick that was non-existent and from then on it became a very hard job. We wanted to open the game, we took risks and Sunderland took advantage on the counter.”

Wigan pushed forward in numbers in the second half and, although Hugo Rodallega briefly reduced the deficit at 2-1, they were hit on the break three times.

First James McClean headed in his first senior goal then Stephane Sessegnon converted Bendtner’s cross before David Vaughan ended the evening in style with a 20-yard thunderbolt 10 minutes from time.

The result took O’Neill’s record to 13 points from six games, and he declared the result to be even better than Sunday’s 1-0 victory over Barclays Premier League leaders Manchester City.

As well as the lack of preparation time, Sunderland are also having to contend with a lengthy injury list that has robbed O’Neill of a number of regular starters.

He said: “I thought it was the best result since I arrived. Manchester City was a great win for us, to score in the last minute. It seemed as if we’d played three games, particularly in the last 20 minutes of the game.

“I accept the fact the adrenaline’s still flying with us but to come here and win was a fantastic performance. I just don’t know where they got the energy and will to keep going.”