Wigan Athletic boss Malky Mackay has blamed a string of injuries for his side's 3-0 defeat at home to Charlton Athletic.
The Latics saw their hopes of survival in the Championship suffer a blow last night as they were comfortably beaten at the DW Stadium.
The result has kept Wigan six points adrift of safety in the Championship table.
However, with William Kvist and Leon Clarke both forced off with injury problems before half time, Mackay believes that their departures negatively affected his side's performance.
"After losing key players it's not easy to click straight back in to the game. You can't lose key players and expect everything to be the same again," the Scot is quoted as saying by Wigantoday.net.
"I make no apology for going for it in the second half and losing a third goal on the counter at the end. I wanted us to go for it and get back into the game, and I was given cause for hope in that second half.
"It's three points lost, and we'll see how the results go over the weekend. We've just got to keep looking at the game in front of us and the points in front of us."
Wigan continue their campaign on Tuesday when they entertain Mackay's former club Cardiff City in the league.
