The Latics stumbled to a 4-2 defeat at Hartlepool in a defensive horror show against a team who are on a roll. After taking the lead through Dale Stevens the rusty Latics, who had had their last five league games postponed, suffered a controversial penalty decision which became the pivotal moment of the game. The 'Monkey Hangers' were given a route back into the match after M'voto was adjudged to have handled the ball by referee Andy Haines and Neil Austin scored from the spot.
The manager was disappointed with the manner of the goals they conceded as two were from set-pieces. The team have worked on set pieces but still continue to fail to deal with dead balls situations, a worrying thing as Dickov is concerned that his young team are failing to learn quickly enough. There was a late rally after Dickov put M'voto up front and brought on Ritchie Jones and Cedric Evina for Dean Furman and Morais. They reverted to 3-4-3 formation in a bid to try to get back into the game but it was too little too late.
After the match Dickov said, “We want the boys to learn, but they keep making the same mistakes time and time again which are something we need to address. We had been dealing with set pieces well before the break. It is a mental thing and we switch off at important times which we cannot afford to do. We started the game ever so well and looked bright and sharp, but the penalty decision changed the game completely. I didn't know why Hartlepool were given a free kick in the first place and then Jean-Yves had his hands by his side and the ball bounced up and hit his hand. It was disappointing but I am not going to make excuses as Hartlepool were the better team.”
“I was unhappy with some of our decision making and we looked a little ring rusty. The one positive thing was the boys kept going to the end and had a go. We must pick ourselves up for a big local derby on Monday. We created chances and it was just a shame we couldn't put them away. We have good players and will always create things going forward. At the back we can be naive, but that will improve and we will get better.”