CHRIS Hussey’s late sending off for Bury at Gigg Lane turned the Lancashire derby on its head and left manager David Flitcroft seething at perceived “inconsistencies” from referee Graham Salisbury.

The Shakers looked on course to move joint top as they cruised towards their seventh straight win in League One following headed goals by captain Nathan Cameron after six minutes and substitute Tom Pope on the hour.

But after Hussey was shown a second yellow card with 13 minutes remaining the Latics took full advantage, levelling with two late goals.

First Cameron headed into his own net on 85 minutes, then Wigan captain Craig Morgan drilled the equaliser into the bottom corner as the game moved into stoppage time.

“Wigan haven’t beaten us today,” said Flitcroft, so overcome by the late drama that two dropped points clearly felt more like a defeat.

“I didn’t feel under threat whatsoever with 11 men on the pitch.

“We weren’t dominating in possession, but had total control out of possession.

“Our lines were fantastic, the discipline was good and (we scored) two fantastic goals.

“It’s been undone and that’s difficult.”

Both sets of fans jeered the referee off the pitch at the end of the first half after Wigan defender Chris McCann went down in the Bury box and he failed to either award a penalty or hand out a caution.

The incident followed what looked like a tame yellow card for Hussey in the 43rd minute.

So when McCann eventually did pick up a booking on 66 minutes, which triggered a flurry of seven cautions in the closing stages, Flitcroft felt the visitors should have been reduced to 10 men.

”McCann dives in the first half and doesn’t get booked,” said the Bury boss. “He then gets booked second half, which would have been a sending off, so it’s a travesty what has actually happened.

“You have to get the consistency right.

“If he books everyone for the tackles he’s booked Huss for, then you might have 20 players booked here today.”

Bury saw little of the ball for 90 minutes but the onus was on the Latics to attack after they fell behind early in the game to Cameron’s towering header from a Hussey corner.

The visitors looked vulnerable from set-pieces and could easily have gone further behind in the 13th minute when Peter Clarke’s back-post header was cleared off the line by McCann.

Wigan’s pacy Dutch midfielder Yanic Wildschut provided their biggest threat before the break but his searching runs never produced a clear opening.

Wildscut’s blistering 25-yard shot, shovelled away by Bury keeper Rob Lainton, was the only effort Gary Caldwell’s men had on target in the first half.

Tom Pope was sent on in place of new loan signing Lee Erwin in the 53rd minute after the Leeds forward had struggled to get into the game, while holding midfielder Reece Brown replaced Jacob Mellis.

And the two substitutes combined brilliantly as Pope stooped to direct Brown’s low, whipped cross into the far corner.

Wildschut again led the Wigan response with a run and pull-back for Michael Jacobs that the attacking midfielder ballooned over.

While Joe Riley missed a glorious opportunity to send either Pope or Leon Clarke free after striding purposefully out of defence with the ball before dwelling too much on his final pass.

The tide turned for Bury shortly after that when Hussey was given his marching orders moments later, albeit after the referee took an age to produce the red card, seemingly forgetting the Shakers defender had been booked in the first half.

Lainton produced a great save to palm away McCann’s angled shot on 84 minutes and Danny Pugh’s block took the sting out of Jacobs’ follow-up.

But the visitors finally pulled a goal back a minute later when Cameron headed into his own net under pressure from Latics substitute Grant Holt.

Bury’s players continued to throw their bodies in the way of wave after wave of Wigan attacks before a Cameron clearance fell to Morgan on the edge of the box and he curled his 20-yard shot past Lainton’s despairing dive.

The atmosphere inside Gigg Lane, created by a crowd of just under 6,000, reached fever pitch after the equaliser.

The tension got to both benches as Shakers’ assistant boss Ben Futcher and Wigan goalkeeping coach Mike Pollitt were sent to the stands following a tussle over the ball in the Bury technical area.

And the referee booked unused Bury substitute Hallam Hope and Latics midfielder Max Power after the pair squared up on the sidelines.

The dramatic ending could have been worse for Bury after Lainton pulled off a stunning one-handed save to deny McCann from close range and then turned a Tim Chow shot on to his near post at the death.

But Lainton’s heroics ensured Bury at least gained a point, as they fell one place in the table to fourth.

BURY (4-5-1): Lainton 9; Riley 8, Cameron 8, P Clarke 8, Hussey 7; Jones 7, Soares 7, Mellis 6 (Brown 7 53), Pugh 7, Erwin 5 (Pope 7 53); L Clarke 6.

Not used: Hope, Sedgwick, Burgess, Dudley, Rose.

WIGAN ATHLETIC (3-5-2): Jaaskelainen; Barnett, Morgan, McCann; Daniels (Chow 87), Perkins, Jacobs, Power, James (Holt 65); Hiwula, Wildschut.

Not used: O'Donnell, Cowie, Odelusi, Junior, Hendry.

Scorers: Bury – Cameron 6, Pope 60. Wigan Athletic – Cameron og 85, Morgan 90.

Red card: Bury – Hussey 77.

Yellow cards: Bury – Hussey 43 & 77, Soares 72, Pope 79, L Clarke 85, Hope 90+5. Wigan Athletic – McCann 66, Power 90+5.

Referee: Graham Salisbury.

Attendance: 5,931 (1,677 visiting).

Star man: Rob Lainton – There is little the in-form Bury goalkeeper could have done to stop Craig Morgan’s equaliser for Wigan as the ball curled past his despairing dive. And but for a couple of handling errors in his crowded penalty area in the frantic closing stages, the 25-year-old former Bolton stopper put in a near flawless performance. He made up for one of those errors in barely believable fashion, rising to his feet in double quick time after failing to claim a cross before putting out an arm to stop a snatched shot from Chris McCann that looked destined to steal a winner for the visitors.