Melchiot staying confident after City defeat, knowing team has belief in themselves

Speaking after Latics' upsetting night at Eastlands Mario Melchiot said that despite the circumstances that led to defeat the team still have the belief to finish the season on a high with their destiny still in their own hands.

The big talking-point to come out of the game against City was of course Gary Caldwell's sending off, a decision that left everyone baffled including the skipper, who gave his view of the incident;

"When you go away from home and perform the way we did you always have a chance of scoring a goal," said Melchiot.

"But the game changed with the sending off and looking at the replay I'm not sure the tackle deserved that.

"The referee told me Gary (Caldwell) was going in with two feet, but to me it seemed otherwise, so why make a rash decision?

"Why not wait to assess the situation? He seemed to grab his card without talking to any of his officiating team and I think he made that decision far too quickly.

"I don't like criticising any officials that are taking charge of our games but I think that on occasions this referee is a little too quick in making decisions and perhaps needs to weigh-up the situation before giving out punishments."

"It's a bad situation we're in now because we'll be without Gary for three games, but it's happened now and to be fair we reacted extremely well after that moment.

"Their first goal opened things up for them and made it even more difficult for us.

"I think coming away from the game people may think that the score-line flattered Man City a little because of the performance we put in.

"We showed that we weren't scared of them and we were capable of competing and pushing them.

With six games left in the campaign Melchiot is hoping the team can continue to produce the kind of performances they've shown lately and hopefully gain a little bit of luck along the way;

"Everyone knows we are a great side, we've all got that belief. The only thing is that we just haven't had the luck you need at this level to help us get what we've deserved.

"It's all still in our own hands which is the most important thing, and that's the situation you want going into the final games of the season."