Wigan Athletic boss explains what went wrong for his side in second-half defeat at Sunderland

The Lactics had taken a half-time lead through Charlie Wyke's deft volley before goals from Elliot Embleton and Dennis Cirkin secured a Sunderland win in the second half.

"I'd start by giving credit to Sunderland for the result," he said.

"I thought we were worthy of the lead at half-time, we were very competitive and very good in and out of possession.

"In the second half, we didn't quite deal with that 15-20 minute spell they had. And their goals are disappointing...one of them's from our goal and the other's from a quick free-kick. But fair play to them, they have some very good players, and very good players in one-v-ones.

"You have to manage those moments and those situations better, though, and we're disappointed we weren't able to do that. I thought we always looked dangerous on the counter in the first half, our distances were very good, I just thought in the second half we possibly played the result a little bit.

"For 15-20 minutes we were maybe five yards too deep, and our distances weren't as good and overall, we were nowhere near as good as we were in the first half.

"But in the closing stages, when they maybe started to play the result a little, we had a few half-chances."

Richardson added that Wyke's second goal in as many games, on his former ground, was the biggest positive of the afternoon.

The Wigan boss praised Sunderland for the support they offered in the aftermath of Wyke suffering a cardiac arrest last year.

"I have to be very complimentary to Sunderland, I thought they were very complimentary around the time Charlie had his episode" he said.

"And I thought in the main, 99 per cent of the people in the ground were very supportive of him again this afternoon.

"For him to have got the goal here, I know it's a club that he holds dear, it's great. And if I'm going to take one positive from today, I'll take that one."