Martinez unhappy with refereeing again - 7M sport

Martinez unhappy with refereeing again

Posted Sunday, February 28, 2010 by PA

Wigan manager Roberto Martinez felt his side were denied a point by a controversial penalty award as they went down 1-0 at Birmingham to remain deep in relegation trouble.

Referee Anthony Taylor adjudged that Wigan skipper Mario Melchiot - a former City player - had brought down Keith Fahey in first-half injury time. Replays showed there had been no contact on the Birmingham winger but James McFadden scored the resulting penalty to settle the issue.

"For the penalty, I don't think there was any contact and, if there was any contact, it was certainly not enough for it to be a penalty," said Martinez.

"It is quite clear. The referee was only five yards away but at the moment we are not getting the luck with decisions.

"Our player is trying to clear the ball and, their player, I would say should have been given a yellow card."

To make matters worse for the Latics, James McCarthy suffered an ankle injury in a reckless challenge from Liam Ridgewell and now looks set to have to pull out of the Republic of Ireland's friendly International with Brazil in midweek.

Ridgewell escaped punishment for the touchline tackle on McCarthy but Martinez claimed: "It was an horrendous tackle and McCarthy's ankle is quite damaged.

"I don't think he will be able to play against Brazil which is a shame because it is his first senior call up.

Birmingham have now reached the 40-point mark for the season and assured themselves of top flight football for a second successive campaign.

Blues manager Alex McLeish said: "If you had said at the start of the season that we would get 40 points by March, I would have said you are having a laugh because the squad needed time to gel and develop and we had lads coming in from the Championship. To get to 40 points before March is an outstanding feat from a squad that cost £10million in the summer to assemble."

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