His squad was cut to the bare bones after he lost four players in the 2-1 defeat against Wigan at the JJB stadium yesterday.

Jose Enrique damaged a calf in the warm-up, then his replacement, Mark Viduka, suffered a torn groin muscle in the second half.

Habib Beye was taken to hospital with a suspected fracture and Sebastien Bassong was sent off for a professional foul on Emile Heskey and serves an automatic suspension.

Yet if Kinnear was reeling from the festive injury jinx then he vented most of his anger, not for the first time, on the match officials.

Kinnear believed Newcastle should have taken at least a point from a match in which referee Mike Dean awarded a penalty to Wigan when Heskey was brought down and then booked Andrew Carroll for diving when the Newcastle boss was convinced his side should have had a spot-kick.

Kinnear said: "I can't find words to express his (Dean's) performance. If he gives a penalty for Heskey why couldn't he for Andy Carroll?

"Heskey has done well, thrown himself and lost his balance. But he's 6ft 3in for Christ's sake. The referees fall for it. At the other end, Andy Carroll's got hacked down from behind. It's a clear penalty.

"In the last 15 minutes I always thought we'd get something out of the game. But you have to rely on officials to do their job, what they are supposed to do."

Newcastle did receive a late spot-kick of their own, which Danny Guthrie converted, but the result was a deserved victory for Wigan manager Steve Bruce, who admits his biggest problem now is to keep his confident team together.

Heskey is a January transfer target for Liverpool while Antonio Valencia has been linked with Real Madrid and Wilson Palacios and Amr Zaki are also being tracked by the big clubs.

Bruce, whose side now take on neighbours Bolton at the Reebok Stadium tomorrow, said: "The vultures will be circling but we have done a good job turning the club around and the last thing we want is to dismantle it. But I have had no offers for any of our players."

The Wigan manager was more interested in singing the praises of his own midfield star, Ryan Taylor, whose free-kick opening goal was his fourth in recent times against Newcastle.

Bruce said: "His deliveries from set-pieces are as good as I've seen. (Newcastle goalkeeper) Shay Given must hate the sight of him. It is an unbelievable art he has got."