Tendayi Darikwa on Wigan Athletic's defeat at Sunderland - and his 'honour and privilege' at leading the side out

The Zimbabwe international didn't enjoy the best of starts to his captaincy, bringing down Ross Stewart for the equalising penalty in the 18th minute - two minutes after Latics took the lead.

While he felt the spot-kick award was 'debatable', Darikwa didn't feel Latics did themselves justice, with Stewart nodding home a free header from a corner eight minutes into the second period.

“It was obviously disappointing to lose in the way we did," he said.

"I thought the penalty was debatable, and the set-piece is then disappointing.

“There’s so much more to come from us.

"We’re disappointed in the dressing room because we felt like we didn’t showcase our best selves.

"I felt all in all we probably didn’t deserve to get anything out of the game.

"But it’s the first game of the season, and emotions were high – especially at a stadium like this with the crowd.

"We’ll have a look at it and come back next week - there is a lot more to come from us."

Latics were always going to be up against it, with nine players - including returning midfielder Max Power - making their debuts.

“It’s a new squad, we’re still working on new relationships and building on that," acknowledged Darikwa.

“The first game of the season is disappointing to lose but nobody won the league today and nobody got relegated today.

"I think we could have probably got the ball down a bit more today, but we will look at it as a squad with the manager and come back next week.”

On being awarded the captaincy this week, he added: “It is an absolute honour and a privilege for myself and for my family for me to be captain of such a fantastic football club.

“And I am grateful for the manager putting his faith in me.

"Max (Power) has been a captain at a huge football club like Sunderland and Jamie (Jones) did a fantastic job last season.

"But the manager has given me the armband and we’ll do everything we can every day to bring success back to this football club.”

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