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Boss Praises United's Cool Heads
Written by Newcastle Utd
Alan Pardew praised his players for their cool heads and "honest performance" against Wigan
By Anthony Marshall - Newcastle United Managing Editor
Alan Pardew praised his Newcastle United players for their cool heads and "honest performance" on a controversial afternoon at the DW Stadium on Sunday.
The Magpies went down 2-1 against Wigan in Barclays Premier League action, losing full-backs Mathieu Debuchy and Massadio Haidara to injury inside the opening 30 minutes and conceding a last-minute goal which clearly struck the hand of Maynor Figueroa before Arouna Kone poked home.
Haidara's injury in particular was hard to take for Pardew - seeing his young defender stretchered off following a high, late challenge from Callum McManaman which wasn't even deemed worthy of a free-kick.
United kept their composure though, and looked set for a point when Davide Santon cancelled out Jean Beausejour's opener, but Kone had the last laugh.
"There was so much that went wrong in this game for us," Pardew told nufcTV following the final whistle.
"We lost Mathieu to a hamstring injury, then Massadio to a terrible tackle, we lost the game in the last minute to a handball - it's tough to take.
"I thought we played a calm second half. We were in control of our emotions and no-one did anything untoward. In the circumstances, I thought that was honourable of us.
"We deserved something from the match. We had a great chance to make it 2-1 when their keeper made a great save, and we it should have been a corner for us.
"In the end, he (referee Mark Halsey) gives a goal kick, they go up the other end and force a corner, from which it's a handball and a goal. It was incredible.
"But there was nothing more we could do in putting in an honest performance."
To watch the full nufcTV post-match interview with Alan Pardew, click here