Wigan Athletic chief bemoans ref justice after agonising defeat

Latics put in arguably their best display of the campaign at London Road, and deservedly led heading into the last 10 minutes thanks to Thelo Aasgaard's goal direct from a corner.

But two goals in the space of three minutes from Jonson Clarke-Harris - the second one a penalty - saw Latics come away with nothing.

And boss Richardson was fuming at the award of the 85th-minute spot-kick, after Siriki Dembele went down in the vicinity of Tendayi Darikwa - with several of the Posh players appearing to like the feeling of grass on their backsides.

"Obviously I have to select my words quite well here," said Richardson.

"I thought the officials could have dismissed it quite early, with how many times their lads went down, appealing for certain things around the pitch.

"That's never nice to see in football, and the officials have a hard enough job on their hands as it is.

"But fair play to Peterborough, they won today."

Richardson's displeasure at referee Thomas Bramall was far from a knee-jerk reaction to the late drama, with the Latics boss having had a lengthy discussion with the official as the teams left the field at half-time - with the score at 0-0.

"It was initially an issue with Callum Lang, and I'd gone over to try to diffuse a situation as the players came off the field, and to try to take control of Callum myself," Richardson explained.

"And it was actually the referee who instigated the conversation of how he was aware of how many times players were going to ground easy, he was going to manage the game, and there wouldn't be any soft decisions made.

"Obviously after the game I've approached him and reminded him of our chat at half-time, that he had instigated, about making sure there were no soft ones given.

"I think it's an easy one to dismiss because, with all due respect, when lads are going down, what's right and what's wrong?

"If he'd just stamped it out early on, maybe handed out a booking, it's a situation that manages itself.

"But when you keep it on that knife edge, and people keep asking the same questions of the officials...it's a hard enough job without having to contend with that.

"Obviously he's got a big decision to make at the end, the kid's gone down...

"If we'd have lost with a really good goal, a nice passage of play or a great strike, you're all right with that.

"But to lose in the manner we did, it's going to be tinged with frustration."

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