New Wigan head coach Ryan Lowe and Barnsley’s interim head coach Conor Hourihane both felt their sides were unfortunate not to win an entertaining League One encounter which ended 1-1 at the Brick Community Stadium.
Davis Keillor-Dunn gave the Tykes the lead with a brilliant free-kick from 25 yards on eight minutes but Wigan substitute Maleace Asamoah ensured honours ended even when he took advantage of a defensive mix-up between Kieren Flavell and Mael De Gevigney to roll the ball into an empty net with 13 minutes to go.
Hourihane said: “It was disappointing. Just deal with the long ball and don’t let it get as far as it did. Flav made some great saves. He will be a little bit disappointed but it’s just as much Mael’s fault.
“I think Mael should probably deal with it but he was terrific in the game. You get disappointing moments in football and you have to get on with it.
“After they scored we responded well and had some opportunities which was pleasing.”
The Latics created more chances to have won the game but Barnsley will feel aggrieved when substitute Stephen Humphrys – making his first return to Wigan since leaving last summer – was dragged down by Jason Kerr when clean through on goal, only for referee Sebastian Stockbridge to brandish a yellow card.
“That was my biggest disappointment from the game,” added Hourihane. “I thought it was a clear red.
“I know Seb and he’s been good over the years but when he looks back he will probably know he got that wrong.
“He thought Humphs was too far from goal but he was away and he’s quick. There was a recovering player but he was six or seven yards deeper and never getting back. You get some and don’t get some.”
For Wigan chief Lowe, it was a decent enough effort from his first home game in charge.
“I thought it was a fantastic performance,” he said. “I’d like to be sitting here with three points because we had some terrific chances and you could see the intent we had from the start.
“As I’ve always said to every group I’ve been with, if you can’t win a game, make sure you don’t lose it. But it wasn’t for the lack of trying, especially in that second half.
“In the first half, I thought we were comfortable and they got a good goal. We managed to keep our belief to stay on the front foot and I thought we deserved to get a goal in that first half.
“We came in at half-time, we changed one or two things, we told them not to force the press and can we play a little bit further forward.
“We did that, fair play to Barnsley for hanging in there, but we deserved the goal and we had big chances to go on and win it.
“That’s pleasing for me, given I’ve not had that long to work with the group on the training pitch. It was evident what I want and the players gave me it – we just weren’t able to come away with the three points.”
On the possible red card for Kerr, he added: “I’m not going to sit here and say it was a red card am I? Definitely not.
“All I will say is that it wasn’t that close to the goal and we had players covering.”
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