Hughes happy to make point

MARK HUGHES remarked it was a match 10-man Manchester City would probably have lost last season as they fought from behind to earn a point yesterday at Wigan Athletic.

The City manager pointed to his side’s new-found resilience, especially after Pablo Zabaleta’s sending off midway through the second half, as they shared the spoils at the DW Stadium.

In a dramatic finish to an absorbing contest, City were denied what Hughes described as a “nailed on” penalty after Shaun Wright-Phillips appeared to be brought down by Maynor Figueroa.

Yet City also had a lucky escape in the dying seconds when keeper Shay Given made a brilliant block to deny Hugo Rodallega what looked a certain match-winning goal.

Hughes said: “When we got back on level terms, I thought we would have enough to go on and win the game.

“Obviously the sending off changed our momentum, but we stuck at it and weren’t to be denied and we got something out of a game we maybe last year would not have been able to do.”

City certainly fared better than previous visitors Chelsea who crashed to a 3-1 defeat which again illustrated that Hughes will view it as one point gained as opposed to the loss of two.

Wigan manager Roberto Martinez described it as further evidence of the progress his team is making, believing their performance was worthy of three points.

Hughes had to rejig his team which was without the injured Kolo Toure and Craig Bellamy as Micah Richards and Martin Petrov won recalls to the starting line-up.

City, who are still to win in five Premier League visits to Wigan, fell behind in first-half stoppage time as Given could only parry Rodallega’s angled shot from the left and Charles N’Zogbia slotted in the rebound.

Given had not long before pulled off a super stop to deny Colombian striker Rodallega.

While the opening half was scrappy and disjointed, the second period was far more purposeful.

City kicked off with more urgency about their play and took little over 60 seconds to draw level when Carlos Tevez broke down the right before squaring a pass for Petrov to fire home a low shot.

It looked to be the turning point of the match as City were a far bigger attacking threat until Zabaleta’s sending off midway through the second half for a second bookable offence when he scythed down Jason Scotland.

The dismissal of the Argentine gave Wigan the impetus and initiative as they suddenly seized control as City were forced to defend the point they held.

Yet City could have snatched victory had referee Alan Wiley, the referee whose fitness was recently questioned by Sir Alex Ferguson, not ruled that Figueroa’s challenge on Wright-Phillips was legitimate when replays suggested the left-back committed a foul.

Hughes accepted the decision from Wiley, who was officiating at his first match since the Fergie rant, in good grace, reflecting that the match official was well up with play and it was one of the decisions that sometimes goes your way and on other occasions it doesn’t.
The effects of that decision would have been compounded had Given not pulled off a superb point-blank save to deny Rodallega at the death and City had left empty-handed.