Ref '˜sorry' for denying Wigan Athletic potential title-winning penalty

Latics had to settle for a point at home against the Dons, with Michael Jacobs popping up with a second-half equaliser to cancel out Joe Pigott’s first-half strike.

But the Latics boss, and most of the crowd inside the DW, were left incandescent in the closing stages when substitute James Vaughan was mugged in mid-air as he tried to get on the end of a cross into the area, only for the official to wave away the protests.

And Cook believes it’s the latest in a string of situations where the striker has been hard done-to.

“To be fair there’s been a few now on James,” mused the Latics boss.

“There was this one, there was one in the week at Bristol Rovers, one the other week at Southend...all exactly the same.

“We send these DVDs to the referees, and they come back saying: ‘Yes, it was a penalty’. For some reason, we’re just not getting them given in games.

“I’ve just been in to see the referee, and he said to me: ‘I know, I got that one wrong’.

“To be fair, when a referee says that, I don’t have a problem,...what else can he say?”

The result means Latics still need a point to be assured of the title, which they’ll hope to secure on the final weekend of the campaign at Doncaster.

For a change, Latics won’t have a midweek game to contend with, and Cook says it’ll be a relatively comfortable week of preparation over at Euxton.

“There’ll be a lot of rest and recuperation this week ahead,” he admitted.

“We’re just getting to the stage now where the petrol gauge is getting empty.

“We’ve just got to make sure we put a little bit of petrol in for Doncaster, and make sure we can deliver that trophy.

“None of us really wanted it to be like this, did we?

“It’s a funny time of the season, when you’ve been promoted, and I’ve experienced it before.

“You’ve got contracts to sort out with some players, different stuff with different players.

“And for me as manager, it’s important we just keep focused on what we have to do next weekend.”