Wigan Athletic star 'should have seen red', insists Stevenage boss

Latics lost by the only goal at the Lamex Stadium, having had to play for an hour with 10 men after Callum Lang was sent off for two quickfire yellows.

The hosts also had a man dismissed in the final quarter after Alex MacDonald went in two-footed on Hughes, which sparked a melee involving most of the players and a number of substitutes and backroom staff from both teams.

Evans felt Hughes caused the incident, having fouled an opponent seconds before he was taken out.

"Alex deserves a red card, let’s not mince our words," he said.

"I think the challenge that leads to Alex diving in is a red card too, but the fourth official and the referee never saw it that way."

Evans also felt his side were good value for the win, which came on the back of back-to-back defeats.

"Did we deserve to win the game? Yes," he said.

"Were we a long way from our best? Yes.

"Did we find a way to win without them making more than half a chance? Yes.

"We went to Bolton and we should win the game, and win it comfortably, but we got nothing.

"But Ian Evatt, Bolton’s manager and a really good manager in my opinion, said they found a way to beat us.

"We found a way to win without conceding a chance but we were far from the best.

"We didn't take advantage of four or five good opportunities round the box.

"If we score two, it's a comfortable day for us.

"We’ll take the three points and we knew we had to win just to make up for the two defeats in the last week.

"One of the first chairman that I ever worked for once said to me 'good teams can lose two games in a row but they seldom lose three'.

"When you go one-up, there's always a little bit of nervousness but as much as Wigan put balls up to the big fella up front, I can't recall a chance.

"So we'll just take the win and we’ll move off, knowing we have been far from our best."