BURTON Albion manager Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink was left frustrated after his side fell to a 2-0 defeat this afternoon at Wigan Athletic.
The Brewers went a goal behind following a finish from the edge of the area by James McClean nine minutes into the game, but just minutes later winger Jonny Smith was then shown a straight red card after the referee adjudged him to foul Latics’ defender Curtis Tilt - something Hasselbaink believes was a huge turning point in the game.
“I think before they scored their first goal it was a free kick to us for a foul on Joe Powell, which then left us a goal down prior to the sending off,” said Hasselbaink.
“Jonny was then sent off, something which the officials have told us endangered the opposition player.
“The player (Curtis Tilt) got up straight away and no medical staff were required. The referee had already made his mind up when the home fans shouted for the decision. Ultimately, the game was then done.
“Jonny was facing play and the ball went over his head. He didn’t see the defender and it was an accident. There was no need to give a red card and at most it was a yellow card in my opinion – Jonny doesn’t have a bad bone in his body.”
After going in a goal and a man down at half time, the Brewers then conceded early in the second half after a thunderbolt from defender Curtis Tilt.
To make things worse, defender Tom Hamer was then shown his fifth yellow card of the season which means he will miss the Brewers next fixture.
“There was a lot of good stuff and there was a lot that needs to get better, despite having ten men – but the game was gone.
“Wigan scored two good goals. The centre-half Tilt will never score a goal like that again, but it was a great strike. At the moment we are getting hit with these things and that’s just the way it is at the moment.
“What is creeping in our game a little bit is that the opposition are getting early goals against us and we can’t have that. That’s not us and we need to get it out of our game.
"We need to work on certain things as we need to do some things better and quicker. It’s now about getting their moral up and we now turn our focus to Fleetwood.”