Wigan manager Roberto Martinez: 'Maynor Figueroa is destroyed. It was a very harsh red card'

Defender sent off after just 12 minutes against Newcastle

Roberto Martinez has admitted Wigan could appeal against the red card that saw defender Maynor Figueroa sent off in the 12th minute at Newcastle last night.

Figueroa was shown a straight red card by referee Mike Jones after he had upended Papiss Cissé in the Wigan penalty area, using his shoulder in the challenge with the Newcastle forward.

"We'll look into it," said Martinez, the Wigan manager, when he was asked if he would appeal. "The red card has to be because of a goalscoring opportunity. It is difficult to see how the striker can score from a split ball. It was shoulder to shoulder for me and that's allowed in the laws of the game. We'll have to look into it and see if we can appeal the red card.

"I though it was very harsh. Looking at if from my players' decision, it's was a divided ball, it didn't go to the striker's feet, the defender didn't try to barge into the striker. It was very harsh and then to get a red card on top of that was very, very unfortunate.

"Maynor is an honest as you're going to get. He is one of the most honest players I've worked with. He was destroyed in the dressing room. He was very upset at half time, all he was saying was 'I was challenged, shoulder to shoulder'. That's exactly what he it was. I feel very sorry for him. It was a double punishment."

Demba Ba scored from the resulting penalty, and added a second eight minutes later. Gael Bigirimana scored a third in the 71st minute to end a four-game losing run for Newcastle.

"I'm absolutely ecstatic," said Alan Pardew, the Newcastle manager. "As a manager of a football club as big as this I'm relieved for my staff. It was great for my staff, they've been so supportive, We've shown we've got good unity.

"It was a massive victory for us. I'm very proud of my staff and the players. We have had to stand tall. Four defeats in this city is not easy for any team, there was a lot of pressure on us."

Pardew also addressed the long-running problem of the clause in Demba Ba's contract that would allow him to leave for £7.5m in the next transfer window.

"The truth of it is Demba has a clause on his contract and it is still hanging over us," he said. "We are still trying to negotiate it away and we haven't been able to do that as yet. He has never looked me in the eye and said he wants to anything other than stay."