Wigan Athletic head coach Ryan Lowe has admitted he owes Lincoln City midfielder Tom Bayliss an apology following his reaction to the sending off of Christian Saydee on Saturday.
The Latics went into the game in search of their first win in three league games and enjoyed an excellent start when Paul Mullin handed the away side an early lead. The game turned on its head through a quick-fire double from Imps striker James Collins, the first of which came from the penalty spot.
Wigan will feel that they didn’t deserve to go into the half time break behind and duly levelled matters five minutes into the second period through Callum Wright. However, the game seemingly turned on its head when Saydee was shown a straight red card for a challenge on Bayliss.
It eventually counted for nothing, especially when Lincoln attacker Rob Street was also dismissed nine minutes later for a second yellow card. The game then drifted out, with the two teams earning a share of the spoils.
Lowe Reflects On Red Card Reaction
Saydee’s red card incident happened right in front of the Wigan bench, prompting a furious reaction from Lowe. The referee consulted the fourth official before making his decision, with the former Preston North End boss clearly angry with the call. However, after watching it back, he now admits that it was probably the right decision:
“Chris is gutted, because he’s not that type of player is he? He hasn’t tried to hurt anyone, all he’s tried to do is get his body across.
“His leg makes contact a little him on him…is it a red, is it a yellow…I don’t know nowadays. If VAR was involved, it probably would be a red card, so I have no real complaints with it.
“Chris just has to take his medicine and get on with it.”
After receiving lengthy treatment, Bayliss eventually attempted to carry on. Despite that, he eventually succumbed to the injury and was duly substituted. Continuing, Lowe admitted that he owes the midfielder an apology:
“I thought Bayls (Bayliss) was play-acting at first, but it was in the heat of the moment.
“I’ve since seen it back and I need to apologise to him, because he’s a good kid.”
Writer’s View
It’s nothing new that managers will stick up for their players during the heat of the moment, but it was obvious that Saydee caught Tom Bayliss high. His frustration no doubt came from being reduced to 10 men when his team were well on top and looking good value to go on and get the winner. Still, it takes a big man to admit he is wrong, especially to the media and both teams can now draw a line under the incident.
