RICHIE Wellens vented his frustration in skipper Anthony Gerrard’s direction following the 2-2 draw at Bury after the centre-back failed to disclose a tight calf muscle which eventually resulted in a first-half substitution with Latics 2-0 down.

The Latics boss revealed his side were effectively playing with 10 men until Brian Wilson was thrust into the action on 38 minutes.

Wellens said: “Gerrard was injured but didn’t tell me – I’m disappointed with the captain, that someone of his experience who knows the game, has not put his hand up and said he needed to come off.

“I couldn’t see it at the time and was wondering why the gap between our defence and midfield was too big.

“I told Gez to get further up because he was too deep but he didn’t give me any indication that he was struggling. Once Brian Wilson came on, we were much more solid.

“I don’t want Gerrard doing that again – you can’t play in a local derby with 10 men.” Wellens admitted Athletic were far from at their best but believes, in the grand scheme of things, a point should be cherished – especially after clawing back a two-goal deficit.

“When I walked into the dressing room, heads were down but I told them we’ve had a bad day at the office, we’ve been nowhere near our best, but we’ve taken a point,” he added.

“We started so slow, they put the ball in the right areas on a bad pitch and goaded us to make mistakes.

“We tried to play football which played into their hands and all of a sudden we were 2-0 down.

“But I can’t fault the players’ commitment and effort to get back into the game. On another day we might have even gone on to win it.

“Once it was 2-2 though, they realised in their situation, they had to go all out to try and win it. Bury threw the kitchen sink at us at the end so it was a good point.

“It’s five games unbeaten. Bury won’t play any better than that this season and have not won the game. We won’t play any worse than that and haven’t lost.

“Today was a dogfight. Bury fought for every single ball. Come the end of the season, that point will be a bonus for us.”