Wigan Athletic: The 12th Man - 'Instead of refreshing the page like I was playing Track and Field, the whole adventure was very stress free...'

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Paul Middleton:

The wheels have come off!

Well, no, they haven’t. It was a bad day, with a bad referee making bad decisions.

Bad for both sides, by the way, not just us, although the worst decision of the game definitely went Barnsley’s way.

Then we have the EFL ruling against us in the red-card appeal, despite the clearest of evidence that Charlie Hughes did get the ball.

Not only that, the referee had so many people between him and the incident that he couldn’t have seen anything, not even if both players had been riding horses and swinging big swords around.

That he then chose to make such a decision shows just how incapable he was and will probably continue to be.

But c’est la vie, as they say in France.

It’s not the end of the world, and we were never going to win every game.

I still wouldn’t bet against us troubling the play-offs, should we be lucky enough to keep everyone fit for long enough.

If not, then we settle for the mid-table we would have all settled for had we not started like a house on fire.

The quality of play and results up to now doesn’t feel like a false dawn.

It all feels like we have the right platform in place.

It’s another sell-out this Saturday at Blackpool, after the club and/or police decided to limit us to barely 2,000 tickets.

Firstly, I’m not sure it makes much sense to have hundreds of ticketless Wiganers roaming around the town and taking over whatever pubs might be showing the game on a snide feed.

Surely it’s better to know where everyone is?

Secondly, the ticketing process on the website was so much easier this time.

Instead of refreshing the page like I was playing Track and Field (one for the teenagers, there), I was in a queue that disappeared remarkably quickly.

And the whole ticket-buying adventure was very stress-free.

After two years of chaos and nonsense, it’s certainly progress.

Whatever happens come May, we’ll win more than we lose this season.

And that’s always a nice feeling.

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Matt Auffrey:

Football refereeing is not an easy job.

I volunteered to referee a friendly match between two Under-18 high school teams in Brooklyn back in June.

One other volunteer with minimal football knowledge ran up and down the sideline with a flag.

And then there was me at 17 stones, waddling around the pitch in nearly 30 degree heat, trying to keep a spirited game in order.

Did I mention I had no formal refereeing experience or training, other than what came from a couple of YouTube videos, along with 14 full seasons of watching the Tics from abroad?

Some 70 minutes later, with a 10-0 scoreline igniting a mercy-rule full-time whistle, I patted myself on the back for getting through the match.

At that point I gladly retired from doing any sort of similar event ever again.

The losing team gave me some lip about missing an ‘obvious’ handball leading up to the second goal.

But I remained adamant I had no view of such a play.

If there was one cardinal rule I tried to adhere to over the course of the match, it was to only blow my whistle for plays where I had a clear view.

Further evidence suggests Sebastian Stockbridge, the referee in charge for the Barnsley match last Saturday, did not follow suit with this rule.

He sent off Charlie Hughes in the 21st minute for an alleged last-man foul on Devante Cole.

Stockbridge appears to have had his view clearly obstructed as the challenge was made.

It was later shown that Hughes won the ball.

The red card decision that followed proved to be catastrophic for Latics’ prospects in the match from that point forward.

We would go on to suffer our first league loss and maiden home setback of the season, despite a strong team effort to force a draw for the majority of the 90-minute affair.

The midweek decision by the EFL to uphold Hughes’ red card was just as frustrating, but not surprising given our poor track record of staying on the organisation’s good side.

Our young star in central defence will have to sit out Saturday’s trip to Blackpool.

The Tangerines have had just as much trouble finding the back of the net as any team in the country over the past few weeks.

But that shouldn’t make the fixture any easier.

Our recent shared history should make this match a competitive one, with both sides eager to get back to winning ways.

The resolve we showed against Barnsley showed the team is well equipped to handle adversity on the pitch.

Let’s not let one small setback disrupt the tremendous progress we’ve made through this first month of play.

I have a feeling that Shaun Maloney will have the lads ready to pounce from the first whistle on Saturday in an aggressive effort to take control of the game as we did at Bolton.

Let’s continue to back the team and continue our ascent up the league table by full-time.

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​George Chilvers:

We all knew we couldn't go through a season without being beaten.

And if you'd given us odds on going every five games with three wins, a draw, and a defeat, we would have snatched your hand off.

It wasn't that we lost to Barnsley – although it would of course have to be them, wouldn't it?

It was the manner of the defeat, the root cause.

We can all accept being beaten by a better team.

In fact, we can accept just being beaten by anyone in a fair game.

We've had enough practice over the years, haven't we?

But the game was changed - some (including myself) would say spoiled - by a bizarre piece of refereeing.

The official had already shown a strange interpretation of the laws of the game when, earlier on, he had given us a free- kick when a Barnsley player had been clearly fouled.

That drew the ‘You're not fit to referee' chant from the visiting fans.

But when Devante Cole broke free, shadowed by Charlie Hughes, the referee – totally unsighted, as pictures showed – decided the Latics defender had fouled their attacker.

The ref reached for his red card without giving himself even a moment's pause for thought.

Quite simply, he panicked.

And so he went into our little black book (well, it's not so little actually) of people we never want to see again.

It was even more perverse that the card was upheld.

With the balance of the game tilted, Barnsley – to their credit – took quick advantage and soon got their noses in front.

They managed the game through to the last moments of injury time.

And then, with us pressing for an equaliser, they got a second.

I have a friend, a journalist.

He had an entry in Colemanballs years ago for a match report.

He wrote that ‘if it hadn't been for the first goal, they wouldn't have scored the second'.

You know what he meant.

And Saturday was the perfect example of it.

Disappointing, but we carry on.

And the team continued to play well.

Callum Lang, in particular, caught the eye.

Onwards and upwards, as they say.

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Tony Moon:

If you were a ref, then what would you do

If an incident happened that you couldn’t get to?

You were trying your best to keep right up with play

But your sprinting prowess had long since flown away.So you had to just guess if a foul occurred

Because the Tykes fans’ appeals were all that you heard.And you didn’t have the gumption to look to your right

Where the linesman would have told you what was out of your sight.Aye, you didn’t see a thing and you weren’t keeping track

Because you were looking directly at Callum Lang’s back.To add insult to injury and to make it more grim

There was a Barnsley players stood in front of him.So you saw beggar all. but you thought in your head

That a foul was committed and Charlie deserved red.A diabolical decision that should be overturned

But that wouldn’t make up for tree points being spurned.

You see, Mr Stockbridge, we don’t ask for much.

We just want a fair crack of the whip and a reasonable touch.But decisions like that give all refs a bad name.

It’s just one of the many things wrong with the game.But no need to worry or mither or fret

Because we’ve lodged an appeal, it’s not over withe yet.Because the EFL are bound to see sense

To not overturn it, they'd have to be dense.What's this? Give over, you're takin' the mick.

They can't have upheld it. They have? What a prickly bunch of chaps they are.But we go again Saturday, and who knows what might be?

Because the referee there might be able to see (through the back of two players...).

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Sean Livesey:

As refereeing performances go, it wasn't the best, was it?

I mean, before we even start on the Charlie Hughes red that arguably never was.

The referee had already missed a rugby tackle before the sending-off, on a Barnsley defender by Matt Smith.

Instead, he handed a free-kick to Latics.

Sadly the sending-off completely changed the pattern of the game.

Barnsley took the lead shortly afterwards and, despite a fantastic rally from Latics in the second half, it was always going to have a huge impact on the game.

With 11 men on the pitch, I'm not sure that was a game we would have lost.

It had all been us before Barnsley's goal.

Indeed, apart from a spell during the first half after we had conceded, it was for most of the second half too.

There's no point dwelling on Saturday, as unfair and as frustrating as it was.

We need to look forward and with a trip to the seaside coming up.

There will be over 2,000 Wiganers traveling to the coast.

And it could well have been double that number but Blackpool have continued their perplexing policy of offering fewer tickets for away fans in favour of empty seats.

What the landlords and hoteliers in Blackpool must think of that.

Even if a handful of our supporters stayed over and drank in Blackpool's pubs, it's extra money in the town's economy.

It's a strange decision to say the least.

Some Blackpool fans have said it was a club decision to assist home performances, as large away crowds are often commonplace at Bloomfield Road.

If that is the case, let's hope a smaller away crowd means nowt come full time.

Blackpool's form has been indifferent to say the least.

They've conceded eight goals in their last two games (three against Lincoln and five against Wolves in the Carabao Cup).

And haven't scored in League One since the opening day of the season.

Neil Critchley was strongly rumoured to be taking us over us last season before the failed 'Toure project'.

He has now returned to Blackpool, the club he's had the most success with.

He will be expected to improve Blackpool's fortunes.

From our point of view, it's an opportunity to get back on track.

We need to carry on the great momentum we've had through August.

We've made great strides and, thanks to the Phoenix deduction, our points total doesn't reflect how well we've started the season.

Any sort of result at Bloomfield Road is one to be celebrated.

Let's give those lads everything we've got from the terraces.