Cardiff City boss unhappy with refereeing in Wigan Athletic defeat

The Bluebirds took an early lead through Joe Ralls, who arguably shouldn't have been on the field after escaping with only a yellow card for an awful lunge on Lee Evans.

But goals from Michael Jacobs and Josh Windass - who'd missed a penalty at 1-0 - put Latics ahead.

Ex-Wigan striker Omar Bogle levelled before Evans won it with a magnificent strike into the top corner.

But Warnock was unhappy with a number of decisions on a frustrating afternoon for the Welsh side - especially involving his centre-backs and Latics striker Joe Garner.

"If (Sean) Morrison and (Aden) Flint are going up in the air to win a ball, there's no way Garner or whoever else they had up front are going to win it," said Warnock.

"So when they run at you, without looking at the ball, facing them, it's a free-kick.

"If you've played the game, you know it's a free-kick.

"I think we got one decision in the second half, but it's all part of the learning process.

"I also thought their penalty was 'iffy' if I'm honest.

"It looked shoulder to shoulder to me, but all credit to them.

"They kept going, they took their goals well and it's a lesson for us."

Cardiff's previous outing saw them beat Manchester United at Old Trafford on the final day of last season before dropping out of the Premier League.

And Warnock admitted it was a rude awakening to life back in the second tier.

"Welcome back to the Championship!" he assessed.

"It was nothing I wasn't expecting, we know exactly how tough this league is.

"You have to take your chances, and I thought we had chances to kill the game and we didn't take them.

"And poor defending at the other end has cost us dearly.

"They scored some cracking goals - but they were poor defending from our point of view.

"They were preventable goals, and that's something we have to learn from.

"I think one or two questions were answered today, if I'm honest, in my own mind.

"I'm so disappointed, because I thought it was a game we could have got three points from, never mind one."