Point not enough for Hughes

A frustrated but proud Mark Hughes praised Fulham’s determination to come from behind and snatch a 1-1 draw at Wigan Athletic on Saturday.

Some poor defending allowed Hugo Rodallega to put Wigan ahead in the 57th minute, but substitute striker Andy Johnson ended his 25-game goal-scoring drought at league level to salvage a point for the visitors four minutes from time.

But Hughes was disappointed not to have taken all three points at DW Stadium, and rued a handball ruling in the build-up to a disallowed Clint Dempsey goal that he felt could have gone either way.

“We’re a little bit frustrated because I think we did enough to win the game,” Hughes said.

“Obviously we gave them a lifeline by giving them a goal through poor defending, just from a long ball we should have dealt with, but obviously that allowed them to get people behind the ball and play on the counter-attack.”

“But I thought our guys showed real courage and determination to get something out of the game and kept on asking questions, kept on knocking on the door and got our reward at the end.”

“The order of the day is to get something out of every game we play from now until the end of the season and we’re doing that at the moment. We’re taking points and obviously we’ve got a big game at home next week (against Stoke City).”

“A couple of decisions went against us, the handball and the goal that was chalked off, it was a correct decision in fairness but you’ve seen in the past referees overrule their linesman.”

“Sometimes teams can be disappointed when those decisions go against them, but not my team they stuck at it, and I’m delighted we were able to get something out it.”

Wigan boss Roberto Martinez reflected on a moment of bad luck that saw Johnson’s attempt take a deflection on its way past Wigan goalkeeper Ali Al Habsi.

“It was unfortunate. I think it was a difficult first half. We wanted to impose ourselves, to get on the ball and it was difficult,” Martinez said.

“In the second half I felt we were growing into the game. We did the hardest thing which was scoring the first goal.”

“It was unfortunate that the goal we conceded was a deflection. It’s one of those situations where you need that little bit of luck.”

“But overall really proud with the reaction in the second half. I’m disappointed with the result, but it’s another point and it’s time to get a lot of positives into the next game.”

“Fulham were a strong side, they came with a clear mentality to stop us playing.”

“When you score the first goal and you concede that late it always gives you that bad feeling, but I’m extremely proud of the performance of the players.”