WIGAN boss Steve Bruce jumped to the defence of Lee Cattermole after the player's first-half challenge on Middlesbrough's Didier Digard sent the Frenchman to hospital with a thigh injury.
Boro midfielder Cattermole incurred the wrath of both the home fans and players but referee Mike Dean's decision to take no action appeared to be vindicated by subsequent television replays.
Bruce said: "We don't want to see players carried off but sometimes it happens.
"The tackle by Cattermole was for me, and I think later proved on television, to be a perfectly fair challenge.
"It was a strong challenge but that's what Lee Cattermole is all about. He doesn't want to deliberately hurt people but he's a strong tackler and he epitomises this team. I thought the referee handled it well." While the point keeps Bruce's men flying high in the top half of the table he admitted it will be hard for his side to sustain their run to the season's end following the January losses of Wilson Palacios and Emile Heskey.
The Latics will also be without hamstring injury victim Antonio Valencia for three weeks and Bruce added: "We had a really good team going into January but with the losses of Palacios and Heskey it's a big part of the team.
"It's that little bit of cutting edge that we've had and we're trying to get it back.
"It's not going to be easy but I thought we might have gone on to win it.
"We showed great resilience and thoroughly deserved what we got."
mfl
Middlesbrough boss Gareth Southgate admitted his side face a mighty battle to beat the drop and must face up to the fact that the "majority" of people outside the club believe Boro are already doomed.
Southgate said: "We've got a fight on our hands and the majority of people outside our group think we're gone but we're not.
"There's a lot of football to be played and we're going to have to win games people don't expect us to win.
"Yes, we've got a fight on our hands, but we're up to that challenge."
And despite calling for positivity in the match programme Southgate said his side's fear of pressing for a winner worked against them in the last 20 minutes when their momentum dropped.
He explained: "The only spell that disappointed me was the last 20 minutes when we were a bit fearful of going forward and making mistakes - we needed to be a bit braver.
"Wigan looked a solid team and we didn't have the answers to break them down again.
"It was important we kept the scoreboard ticking over and got a point but obviously it was missed opportunity for us."
Southgate added he had no issues with Cattermole's challenge on Digard and said he hoped to learn tomorrow about the extent of the Frenchman's injury.
He added: "We will know more in the next couple of hours but it's a blow for us because it unsettled the rhythm of the game. He's been an important player for us so it had a big effect.
"I thought (Lee Cattermole) played as he does - strong in the tackle and keeping his passing simple. If I'm on their side I'm thinking he's timed the tackle about right to take everything."
Bruce said: "We don't want to see players carried off but sometimes it happens.
"The tackle by Cattermole was for me, and I think later proved on television, to be a perfectly fair challenge.
"It was a strong challenge but that's what Lee Cattermole is all about. He doesn't want to deliberately hurt people but he's a strong tackler and he epitomises this team. I thought the referee handled it well." While the point keeps Bruce's men flying high in the top half of the table he admitted it will be hard for his side to sustain their run to the season's end following the January losses of Wilson Palacios and Emile Heskey.
The Latics will also be without hamstring injury victim Antonio Valencia for three weeks and Bruce added: "We had a really good team going into January but with the losses of Palacios and Heskey it's a big part of the team.
"It's that little bit of cutting edge that we've had and we're trying to get it back.
"It's not going to be easy but I thought we might have gone on to win it.
"We showed great resilience and thoroughly deserved what we got."
mfl
Middlesbrough boss Gareth Southgate admitted his side face a mighty battle to beat the drop and must face up to the fact that the "majority" of people outside the club believe Boro are already doomed.
Southgate said: "We've got a fight on our hands and the majority of people outside our group think we're gone but we're not.
"There's a lot of football to be played and we're going to have to win games people don't expect us to win.
"Yes, we've got a fight on our hands, but we're up to that challenge."
And despite calling for positivity in the match programme Southgate said his side's fear of pressing for a winner worked against them in the last 20 minutes when their momentum dropped.
He explained: "The only spell that disappointed me was the last 20 minutes when we were a bit fearful of going forward and making mistakes - we needed to be a bit braver.
"Wigan looked a solid team and we didn't have the answers to break them down again.
"It was important we kept the scoreboard ticking over and got a point but obviously it was missed opportunity for us."
Southgate added he had no issues with Cattermole's challenge on Digard and said he hoped to learn tomorrow about the extent of the Frenchman's injury.
He added: "We will know more in the next couple of hours but it's a blow for us because it unsettled the rhythm of the game. He's been an important player for us so it had a big effect.
"I thought (Lee Cattermole) played as he does - strong in the tackle and keeping his passing simple. If I'm on their side I'm thinking he's timed the tackle about right to take everything."
Copyright (c) Press Association
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