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.