A HAT-TRICK of incidents had Frankie Bunn lamenting on what might have been after coming away from the County Ground with a well-earned point which he felt could have easily been all three.

Latics – still unbeaten on their travels – grinded out a valuable draw as they became the only side to render the Robins goalless in the league so far this season and make it three games without defeat in the process.

Although second-best in terms of possession for much of the encounter, the manager pointed to fine margins for not claiming maximum rewards . . . especially after Matty Taylor’s red card with Christopher Missilou clean through on halfway late on.

Bunn said: “It’s what you call a professional foul, but the way in which it was done beggars belief.

“It was a great goalscoring opportunity – even from the halfway line because we had numbers in support.

“I’m disappointed with that – but, would we have done the same? Probably.”

The Latics boss also felt his troops were denied a stone-wall spot kick earlier in the match.

“It is what it is but we have missed out on a penalty in the first half as well,” he added.

“We’ve got a wide free-kick, their lad has blatantly handballed it and the referee hasn’t given it – we’ve had a look at that on the video and it looks like a penalty.”

Then there was Chris O’Grady’s gilt-edged chance in the dying moments when he skied a chance clean over the bar from close range.

Bunn said: “Chris almost scored with the last kick of the game – Jose Baxter got in there and Chris has had a great chance . . . but look, we’re the first team to keep a clean sheet against Swindon, so it’s a good point away from home and you never know when these points will become useful.

“It was a strong, solid performance, which is what we ask for every week.

“In the cold light of day, we probably should have won. If the sending off doesn’t happen, we’re through on goal – but that’s football and we’ll move on.

“The character was tremendous again, we defended our box really well. On the back of conceding three goals last week it was a spirited defence of our goal and I don’t even think our goalkeeper was actually worked that much. There were a couple of scrambles here and there but nothing really got through us.

“I’m happy with the result because this is a tough place to come – but we’re greedy, we’ll always want more and we always think we can get better.”

Bunn had special praise for the away support, who once again turned out in numbers and made their voices heard.

He said: “The fans are a special group – they support us through thick and thin. I think they appreciate the camaraderie amongst the team. They’ve seen the spirit and the fitness as well as the work ethic. They were vocal throughout as always which was good.”