Martinez blasts refereeing after defeat

Roberto Martinez has slammed refereeing standards after Wigan lost 2-1 to Chelsea through a dubious Branislav Ivanovic goal.

The Serbian defender put his side ahead just past the hour mark, only for Wigan to equalise through a thunderous drive by Mohamed Diame. Juan Mata struck late on to leave Martinez’s side in the relegation zone.

“Ivanovic is the one who’s offside,” Martinez told reporters.

“If Drogba touches the ball, there’s another three players offside. The first one, you can’t miss that.

“Someone asked me if it’s time to bring technology in. No, it’s time to bring in a referee or a linesman who knows the rules. We don’t need technology for that, unfortunately.”

“Everyone says that football can be cruel, and from our point of view that’s as bad as it can get.

“I felt sorry for the referee because he relies on his linesman. As a referee you can’t give that decision unless the linesman gives it to you.

“I don’t know what was wrong, but it was really disappointing to see that the linesman wasn’t helping the referee.

“For me to speak with them now would be a waste of time. We’ve had it so many times this season. It’s not a matter of opinions, it’s clear calls that have been against us.”

Chelsea manager Roberto Di Matteo was in a positive mood despite the unconvincing performance.

“It’s not easy, but we are very excited and pleased that we are still involved in all these competitions,” he said.

“Every game that we play, it’s like ‘Oh you did need a win today’. We are in a position unfortunately that we have to win.

“We are pleased to get the three points today, even if you say it wasn’t a sparkling performance.”

Di Matteo admitted the away side were unfortunate: “I haven’t actually seen the replays yet so I can’t comment.

“But despite the decisions Wigan were very unlucky today not to get anything out of the game, and deserved an equaliser. Of course we would not like to concede, but that’s football.

“You need to give credit to the opposition. They played really well, put a great performance in today. I knew they would because I’ve watched them in the last few weeks and they’ve got some great results. They are a good team, and they make it difficult.”