Vincent Kompany's close-range strike had cancelled out Antonio Valencia's spectacular opening goal before Amr Zaki scored from the penalty spot at the JJB Stadium.

But Hughes felt referee Steve Bennett was wrong to award the penalty after Wilson Palacios went down in the box with minimal contact from City defender Javier Garrido.

"Referees have days when they don't perform as well as they should and that's true for players, managers, coaches and alike so we understand that," Hughes said.

"But all we ask is that they get big decisions right.

"I think it [diving] is part and parcel of the game and the foreign players are a bit more adept at it than the British-based players.

"The ability to draw fouls in some places is seen as a skill so he's obviously very skilful at that. I didn't used to fall down quite as easy as that.

"On occasions referees get the incidentals wrong and sometimes you scratch your head, but what they have to get is the key decisions right and the key decisions were not made correctly and that had a direct impact on the result I felt."

Bolton manager Gary Megson had similar feelings after his side's defeat to Manchester United on Saturday and Hughes added: "Goalline technology is something that has to be brought in because it is easily implemented.

"The means are there to do it now so why it has not been I have no idea.

"Video technology, or technology in other parts of the game, is a different subject and possibly will impact fundamentally more on the game as we know it.

"But certainly for key moments, or key decisions, that have to be made which can directly change a game why not use the cameras?

"It's not as if it is like the old days when it was one camera on top of a gantry - there are cameras everywhere so it can be done."

Wigan boss Steve Bruce disagreed with his former Manchester United team-mate's interpretation of the incident and felt Bennett's decision was the correct one.

He said: "I know it was slightly exaggerated by Palacios but he has got the ball and then there has been contact from their player after.

"He's got out of the road and everyone is going to do that when you see a boot coming towards you.

"He made sure he was going to get out of the way of the challenge and that's where the exaggeration came but there is contact there.

"If he just stands there he is going to get whacked so he's not going to do that."