Latics stumble to home draw

The Latics boss John Sheridan had to watch his team stumble to a 1-1 draw with Brighton, and against 10 men for most of the second half as Adam Virgo was sent off in the 48th. Minute. They got off to a good enough start when they took an early lead through an Andy Liddell penalty, but it was only a temporary lead as soon after Murray pulled a goal back. The Latics also lost Sean Gregan late in the game with a nasty mouth injury for which he had to get hospital treatment.

The manager told the press, "This was a game we should have won - the opportunity was there after they went down to ten men. It was a very frustrating game and it was all about decisions today. We took the wrong options at the wrong times. We should have created a lot more openings against ten men and we've missed a chance to get closer to the automatic spots. We've been on a decent run and 10 points from the last 12 is very good, but it was disappointing not to get the win we wanted today."

"Only Chris Taylor had any real opportunities today and we just didn't get the breaks we needed. We battled well but the quality wasn't there. Darren Byfield got a nasty injury and is very sore at the moment; he couldn't even get his boot on. He was really struggling and unfortunately wasn't available today, but I'm hoping he'll be back within the next couple of days."