Norwich boss Farke happy to claim point at Wigan

Norwich manager Daniel Farke admitted the 1-1 Sky Bet Championship draw at Wigan was a ‘good point’ as the race for promotion heads to an exciting climax.

City had to come from behind to get the draw, with Teemu Pukki equalising 10 minutes from time with a cool finish past Latics goalkeeper Christian Walton.

Wigan had led at the break through Reece James’ penalty, after Sam Morsy’s shot had struck a City arm in the box,  and had squandered decent chances to extend their lead.

There was even time during the eight added minutes at the end for Leon Clarke to head home from a James free-kick, only for a contentious offside call to rule out the effort.

But Farke was more than content to stick another point on the board to extend their lead at the top over Leeds to four points with four games to go.

“Football is not always fair, and it’s not always taken for granted that you get what you deserve,” he said.

“In general, I felt we were pretty close to winning this game, but it was a very difficult game.

“Wigan are a very good side at home, especially having taken the lead, and it was a very good performance from them.

“It’s a good point, we will take that, especially given the situation with the league table, but of course you are dancing on the table when you win.”

Farke could not hide his disappointment at Wigan’s penalty award just before the interval.

“I don’t want to complain too much, because we are all human beings and we all make mistakes,” he added.

“But my feeling is we have been having some unbelievably harsh decisions against us in recent weeks.

“It was hit from two yards away, and even if the ball had hit the arm straight away it would not have been a penalty – but especially not after being deflected off his leg.

“Without doubt there was no intention, and I can’t understand how you can give a penalty for that.

“But big compliments to our guys for coming back and making sure we got a point.”

Wigan boss Paul Cook saw his side extend their advantage over third-bottom Rotherham to two points, although he felt it could and should have been four.

“I thought we did enough to win the game if I’m being really truthful,” he said.

“As far as the big moments go in the game…from my observations, penalties are not normally given in those circumstances, so that goes in our favour.

“But there’s also a general feeling that our goal at the end should have been given, so there’s a disappointment there.

“Overall though we’ve gone up against a very, very good side, they’re excellent in everything they do, and we’ve matched them.

“We’ve taken the game to them, we’ve engaged them, we’ve pressed them at the top end of the pitch and we’re unlucky not to have beaten them.

“All the lads who came in have worked so hard to get that result.

“While there’s a small amount of disappointment not to have got the win, when you’re playing teams like that, we’re happy with that.”

FourFourTwo Staff

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