Wigan Athletic boss reflects on referee whose 'full performance was a struggle' at Stevenage

Aaron Pressley's disputed ninth-minute penalty - after Baba Adeeko challenged for the ball on the edge of the Latics box - was ultimately decisive.

But that told only a fraction of the story, with the official brandishing no fewer than TWELVE yellow cards to the visitors - including two to skipper Callum Lang, and one to manager Maloney.

He later reduced Stevenage to 10 men, after substitute Alex MacDonald produced a horror challenge on Charlie Hughes, but the home side hung on to win.

"Unfortunately, he had a big impact on the game, looking at the key decisions in the game," acknowledged Maloney.

"For us it was negative, for Stevenage it was obviously positive.

"It wasn't a game that was overly physical, there weren't a lot of bad tackles - apart from the one at the end - and the referee just got it very, very wrong, in the majority of what he did today.

"Anyone can make a mistake at any time, we saw that the other week against Portsmouth, when we should have had a penalty.

"But today it was just the full performance that was a struggle for the referee."

It's the latest in a long line of incidents of late that have gone against Latics, who have now lost six of their last seven league matches.

"At the moment, emotions are obviously pretty high," the Latics boss recognised.

"Even at moments like this, you have to try to stay as respectful as you can.

"You understand that everyone has days when they're not at their very best.

"But there's nothing whatsoever we can do about it now, it's really irrelevant what's said.

"It feels like we're on a bit of a run at the moment, in terms of being on the receiving end of some decisions.

On the penalty award, Maloney said: "At the time, I didn't think it was a foul.

"But that was probably just the start of what unravelled."

On Lang's second yellow card, he added: "If it was a late challenge, or he was trying to stop a counter attack, I might get it.

"When you're challenging for a ball, sometimes you'll get the ball and sometimes you won't.

"In terms of his arm being up...it's just incorrect.

"The referee got the decision very, very wrong."

And on his own caution, Maloney added: "Yeah, it's my first time.

"In the first half, we had six fouls and four yellows, and they had 11 and zero.

"I'm not one for getting opponents yellow cards, but I needed to let the referee know.

"I've been in the game for a long time, and I've not seen a referee have that big an impact in a game...which was obviously negative for us."

Sam Tickle, Omar Rekik, Hughes, Sean Clare, Thelo Aasgaard, Steven Sessegnon, Tom Pearce, Liam Shaw and Josh Magennis were the other players booked.