Wigan boss Paul Cook phlegmatic after Nottingham Forest late equaliser
Posted Sunday, August 19, 2018 by PA
Paul Cook insisted he did not feel down despite Wigan conceding a stoppage-time equaliser in a four-goal thriller against Sky Bet Championship high-flyers Nottingham Forest.
The Latics had led twice through Nick Powell and a Will Grigg penalty, but were pegged back on both occasions.
Matty Cash provided the first Forest equaliser after 10 minutes before the visitors levelled right at the death in dramatic circumstances.
Cash got round Antonee Robinson before being clipped in the area by Sam Morsy for a clear penalty.
Lewis Grabban’s spot-kick was kept out by Christian Walton, but Hillal Soudani slotted home the rebound from close range.
“No, I don’t feel hard done by,” said Latics boss Cook.
“When you’re talking about a team like Forest, with calibre like that, they’re always capable of hurting you no matter what stage of the game it is.
“If I’m being truthful, I felt we did do enough to win the game, but football doesn’t work like that.
“But while we’re disappointed with the result, I don’t think anyone inside the stadium would be disappointed with how we performed.
“I think we’d admit we were very naive with the goals we conceded.
“But sometimes you have to learn on the job – and that goes for most professions.
“Three of the lads at the back were playing only their third games for the club.
“Sam Morsy came up with a mistake for the first goal, but that’s going to happen with the way we play.
“There’ll be no criticism whatsoever from me about any of my players, that’s for sure.”
Forest manager Aitor Karanka acknowledged his side had not played anywhere near their best, but was pleased with the fighting qualities they showed.
“I think we deserved our point at the end,” he said.
“We created quite a few chances, although you are always a little fortunate when you equalise in added-time.
“Of course we had to hang in there when we were losing 2-1, but I told my players we had time to get back into it.
“We could easily have gone into the break 3-1 or 4-1 down, because we didn’t play very well in the first half.
“But I prefer to take the positives, and I thought we came up against a very good Wigan team, playing with a lot of momentum, their manager is really good.
“I told my players before the game we had to be careful with this game, and they had to be on it 150 per cent.
“We weren’t at that level, and it’s hard to understand how the players can play so well against West Brom last week and then so poorly today.
“The positive thing is we are still unbeaten, we are creating a lot of opportunities and we’ve managed to keep the momentum in the camp.
“My players have proved once again they will fight until the end to get the goal, and they deserve credit for that.”
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