Latics boss John Sheridan discusses his side's 1-0 defeat to Charlton following a positive performance, but three frustrating decisions.

John Sheridan | “We had the desire and we pushed Charlton all of the way”
Manager pleased with performance but frustrated his side come away with nothing after controversial second-half at The Valley
Sheridan: “We had two stonewall penalties and I will never know why he disallowed the Joe Garner goal; the linesman was 10 or 15 yards away from Will [Keane] competing for the ball and he doesn’t give a foul but for some reason the referee - who is 40 yards away – gives a free-kick and disallows the goal.”

Wigan Athletic manager John Sheridan was pleased with Latics’ performance at Charlton Athletic on Saturday afternoon but hugely frustrated his side head back north with nothing to show for their efforts.

In a controversial start to the second-half, Latics felt they should have had two penalties and were also aggrieved when a Joe Garner goal was ruled out for a foul by Will Keane in the build-up.

Reflecting post-match on Latics TV, Sheridan said:

“The performance was a lot better after the disappointment at Crewe; they had a desire and will to try and get something from the game and we pushed Charlton all the way.

“We are unfortunate to go away and get nothing from the game and it’s very disappointing.

“We had two stonewall penalties and I will never know why he disallowed the Joe Garner goal; the linesman was 10 or 15 yards away from Will competing for the ball and he doesn’t give a foul but for some reason the referee - who is 40 yards away – gives a free-kick and disallows the goal.

“The performance and the way the players went about getting something out of the game was a lot better.

“Again, we have lost the game and it’s disappointing because the goal is a direct free-kick and leading up to the goal we made ourselves vulnerable. The things we do, the decisions we make and we give too many little free-kicks away in dangerous areas, if you do that you get punished.

“It’s a shame we didn’t get something from the game because we deserved to.”

It was the second 45 minutes, focusing solely on his side’s performance, that Sheridan was most pleased with.

“Charlton had a couple of chances in the first-half and [Jamie] Jones makes a couple of good saves,” he continued.

“At the other end DJ [Darnell Johnson] has a header and the keeper makes a magnificent save to be fair. Joe Garner does everything right with his but it just misses the target when usually with him they go in.

“The game was evenly matched in the first-half; second-half we took the game to them and created good positions to score goals. A big improvement but we have still lost the game.

“I think the performance would win us more games than we lose but no excuses we have to try and get back to winning games. The players showed a desire, played some good stuff and were pushing for the equaliser, unfortunately we didn’t get it but it wasn’t for the lack of trying.”

Sheridan confirmed that he hopes to have left back Tom Pearce back available this week, with the left back’s late withdrawal from the squad causing a reshuffle for the manager.

“On Friday, Tom [Pearce] had a sore groin which upset our shape a little bit so we had to play Gavin Massey at right back, but I thought he was excellent and Tom James had to go to left back. Hopefully Tom will be OK to Tuesday.”

John Sheridan | "We had the desire and we pushed Charlton all the way."