Kirkland off in reserves defeat

It was a bad night for Albion in Wigan as the reserve team went down by three goals to one in a game that saw Kirkland dismissed after only five minutes.

The keeper was dismissed for handling the ball outside the area after a mix up with Uruguayan defender Williams Martinez.

Kirkland asked to play in the game to try and gain some much needed match practice after losing his first team place to Tomasz Kuszczak.

Albion were three nil down at half-time
and scored a consolation through Stuart Nicholson, his third goal in as many games for the reserves.

Reserve team boss Gary Shelton admitted that he felt sorry for Kirkland as the keeper has had his fair share of bad luck this season.

Shelton said, 'The referee stuck to the letter of the law when all their players and staff were urging him to only give Chris a yellow card.

'It was just unfortunate and came from a misunderstanding between Willy and Chris.

'Martinez did a lot better in the second half in his first full game in England and the boys did exceptionally well with ten men, even creating a couple of chances.

One thing is for sure this is going to be another season that Kirkland will want to put behind him as he tries to put his career back on track.

Click here to join in the debate on the club forum.