• Ten-man Wigan Athletic were denied an away victory at Barnsley when the hosts equalised through Charlie Lennon in an unwarranted nine minutes of added time. 
• Referee Ross Martin produced a shockingly awful display throughout issuing numerous yellow cards and a red card for Callum Wright for a second bookable offence in the 88th minute.
• Latics were the dominant force in the first half. Joe Taylor had given Latics a deserved lead in the 29th minute when he lobbed goalkeeper Owen Goodman.
• Wright crashed an effort against the crossbar and forced a good save from Goodman and Taylor went close on several other occasions.
• The hosts improved in the second half with Corey O’Keefe and Luca Connoll hitting the woodwork but until Wright was dismissed and the referee had added a ridiculous nine minutes it had looked like the visitors would take all three points.
• Latics remain in 20th place and the Tykes are in 12th place in the League One table.

Gary Caldwell made one change from the victory against Bradford City Caylan Vickers being replaced by Christian Saydee in the starting line-up.

After a quiet opening period Latics had the first opportunity when Taylor rounded Goodman, but could only shoot wide from a difficult angle. 

Latics soon started to take a grip on the game.

Wright drove forward and his deflected strike was well saved by Goodman.

Soon afterwards Taylor burst forward and his strike from 20 yards stung the palms of the Barnsley ‘keeper. 

Latics deservedly took the lead when Sam Tickle’s superb early kick out set Taylor free in space upfield and Taylor spotted Goodman off his line before lifting over him and into the net. 

The visitors had been the dominant force in the first half and they might have added to their lead when Wright rattled the crossbar after he connected well with a first-time strike.

The Tykes came into the game in the second half and Latics were left to rue their missed chances.

Luca Connell struck just over the bar before Adam Phillips forced a good save from Tickle who had to be alert to the danger.

Latics won a free-kick in a good position. Jensen Weir’s curled effort brushed the side netting. It was a pity Harrison Bettoni was not on the pitch as he might have faired better with the free-kick.

Despite plenty of Barnsley possession Latics were defending very well until Wright was deemed to have fouled in the middle of the park, which resulted in a second yellow card and then red.

A major contributing factor in Barnsley’s favour was the referee’s decision to add a ridiculous nine minutes of extra time. Completely unjustified given the number of stoppages in the game.

Barnsley almost inevitably grabbed their equaliser in the 98th minute when Lennon followed up after Tickle had parried David McGoldrick’s strike and Latics were desperately unlucky to have to settle for a point.

It’s worth noting that one of the Latics Coaching staff was yellow carded in the nine minutes of added time for protesting about the referee’s decisions. It was not surprising that they protested given the official’s ineptitude.

Overview

The standard of refereeing in League One has been consistently poor this season and Latics have been on the end of some dreadful decisions by the referees.

Referee Martin produced a shockingly awful display issuing numerous yellow cards to both teams and a debatable red card for Callum Wright for a second bookable offence in the 88th minute.

The referee and linesmen consistently allowed Barnsley to steal yards at throw ins, disregarding where the ball went out of play.

The referee’s decision to add a ridiculous nine minutes of extra time was completely unjustified given the number of stoppages in the game.

The referee eventually played 12 minutes of added time. It was almost as though he was hoping Barnsley might get the winner.

Post-match comments 

Speaking afterwards to the media Gary Caldwell said,

“It is disappointing when you concede so late in the game, but I thought the players were excellent,” 

“Right throughout the game with 11 players on the pitch, we were the better team and were going to win the game. 

“The one learning we can take from the game is to kill teams off and score more goals.

“I am delighted with the players – certain things went against us that cost us the three points, but it’s another point towards our total, and we move on to Saturday.

“We wanted to play an energetic game, and I thought we caused them a lot of problems in that first half, both in possession and on the counter attack.

“I thought out of possession, we were comfortable and didn’t look in any danger. We invited more pressure on ourselves in the second half, and the pressure really came after the red card.

“We couldn’t see it out, but I am delighted with the effort.”

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