Roberto Martinez bemoans "impossible" red card

Roberto Martinez has said that referee Phil Dowd made the wrong decision when he dismissed Wigan striker Conor Sammon at Old Trafford this afternoon.

Sammon was shown a straight red within minutes of the half-time whistle in Wigan's 5-0 defeat to Manchester United for what was deemed an unfair challenge on Michael Carrick.

"The sending off was just a wrong call," the Spaniard told Sky Sports News. "It doesn't matter how you want to look at it. It's just such a disappointment.

"You want a competative game, you want to have real healthy competiton on the field. To give a red card is an impossible call.

"Contact or not, football is a contact sport. It was not an elbow, there was no intent, there was nothing that could give you the inclination of it being a red card."

Manchester United, who were winning 1-0 at the time, scored their second within three minutes of Sammon's dismissal.