Wigan boss Leam Richardson says Sunderland's Elliot Embleton was fortunate not to see red before scoring the goal that sparked the Black Cats' second-half comeback. Embleton was booked for a nasty sliding challenge on ex-Sunderland striker Charlie Wyke just in front of the dugouts inside the opening half-hour.
Wyke escaped serious damage and went on to put the Latics ahead just before half-time, but Embleton equalised soon after the break before Dennis Cirkin's brave header completed the turnaround and gave Sunderland a deserved three points. But Richardson says Embleton's challenge could easily have resulted in referee Keith Stroud producing a red card - and suggested that had one of his players committed the foul, he might have been sent off.
"The challenge didn't look great," said Richardson. "It might have been a different outcome if it had been the other way round, but I'm not going to look for excuses."
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Unsurprisingly, Sunderland boss Tony Mowbray took a different view, and referenced another sliding tackle five minutes later which saw Wigan's Curtis Tilt booked for a foul on Patrick Roberts, saying that that shouldn't have resulted in a card either. "They were both poor decisions, really," said Mowbray.
"It was wet, it was pouring down, the pitch was soaking wet. Both players [Embleton and Wyke] slid for the ball, whoever got there first was getting it and the other lad was probably going to get caught.
"Embleton just poked it [the ball] and the slide followed through. In my opinion, play on.
"Then a few minutes later he [the referee] booked another lad [Tilt] for a slide tackle. I'm from a certain era where you could tackle.
"It seems you can't go to ground on a wet day if two players collide in a challenge. So, for me, it [the Embleton challenge] shouldn't have even been a booking - I don't know if people are saying it should have been more.
"I wasn't worried it would be a red."
Wyke returned to Wearside for the first time since he suffered a cardiac arrest in training in November and, while there was some booing directed at him during the game, he was later given a round of applause by the Sunderland fans when he was substituted in the second half. Richardson said: "I have to be very complimentary to Sunderland, I thought they were very complimentary around the time Charlie had his episode.
"And I thought in the main, 99 percent of the people in the ground were very supportive of him again yesterday afternoon. For him to have got the goal here, I know it's a club that he holds dear, it's great.
"And if I'm going to take one positive, I'll take that one."
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