'I don't understand the rules', muses Wigan Athletic chief after penalty controversy

Latics drew 1-1 with their fellow League One strugglers, with Will Keane's penalty at the start of the second period being cancelled out by Shaun Whalley's goal at the three-quarter mark.

The spot-kick was given after Tom Pearce was clearly tripped by Ro-Shaun Williams.

But the Latics left-back was also left poleaxed inside the box seconds before the break by former Wigan striker Leon Clarke - only for referee Sebastian Stockbridge to somehow wave play on.

The two points gone begging would have moved Latics up a couple of places, to within a point of the safety mark.

And while not dissatisfied with a point against in-form Town, Richardson acknowledged there was a feeling of what might have been.

"I've had the pleasure of watching both of the penalty incidents, and they're both penalties," he said.

"Again, officials have a thankless task where they have to make a million and one decisions.

"But you expect the officials to get the big decisions correct.

"Sebastian is a good referee, he’s been around a while.

"I did question it half-time...Tom was in perfect control of the ball, he was about to have a shot and he got wiped out.

"I don’t understand the rules sometimes. And the second one...should that be a yellow or red card as well?

"He's said he'll look at it again and digest it, which is fine.

"But they were big calls...and whether we could have built on that momentum, who knows?"

The result means Latics have picked up eight points from their last five matches, including only one defeat, heading into Tuesday's six-pointer at rock-bottom Burton.

And the acting manager feels it could turn out to be one point gained rather than two lost in the grand shake-up.

"Within any league campaign, where you're going for promotion or whatever, if you're not going to win a game then definitely don't lose," Richardson recognised.

"I felt the longer the game went on, our energy levels dropped a touch, and the creativity also dropped a touch.

"We had to hang on to what we had and, all in all, that could prove to be a valuable point.

"We had a great spell at the start of the second half, we had a couple of great chances at the end.

"Against teams set up like Shrewsbury, you have to bide your time and wait for those moments.

"But on the whole I thought a point was probably a fair result.

"Both teams offered hard work and endeavour, and we'll move on to Burton now."