Wigan Athletic boss makes referee admission as he prepares to serve ban

Latics became the first club in all four divisions to break through the century of yellow cards during the midweek trip to Oxford.

Indeed, they have accrued a dozen more cautions than second-placed Leyton Orient, with even their manager seeing yellow from referee Jeremy Simpson on Tuesday night.

Incredibly, for such a mild-mannered character who goes out of his way to be respectful to officials, that was Maloney's third offence of the season - which means he'll watch this weekend's trip to Shrewsbury from the stands.

When asked his thoughts on Latics' poor disciplinary record, however, the Latics manager again chose not to point the finger at the authorities.

"Not being booked myself would be a good start!" he grimaced. "Look, I was frustrated at Oxford...I'm looking at Jordan Jones, and other players, who are getting repeatedly fouled by the opposition. But I also respect the officials, and I know it's a very tough job.

"Sometimes it just feels a little bit inconsistent...maybe we're going through one of those periods where it is.

"Look, I know both sides make tactical fouls, and sometimes in a game that's needed. But it just feels like we're going through a tough time where the inconsistencies are going against our side."

Maloney doesn't feel there is any vendetta against his side, or their reputation as card collectors is going ahead of them.

"We've had a few games that were absolutely crazy...Stevenage was one of those games," he acknowledged. "I think we had 11 players booked that day, me as well, and that's obviously crazy.

"Peterborough the other week felt something similar...maybe not quite so extreme, but it didn't feel great.

"You're probably looking at five-to-10 cautions across those games more than we should have, which doesn't give an accurate reflection of where we are.

"I certainly don't think referees are treating us out of the ordinary, because they think we're a dirty team, or overly physical, or aggressive...I hope not anyway.

"But I have certainly noticed a difference in the way opposition differences are dealing with Jordan, who is so good one-v-one, that as soon as he beats his man it's a foul.

"Maybe things are less stringent than they were at the start of the season...you notice little things like balls being kicked away. But what I will also say about referees is they have so much now to do, and I really don't want to complain too much about officials.

"You'd imagine over the course of the season these things will even themselves out, so hopefully we're due some in our favour very soon."