JASON Roberts insists there were “no excuses” after admitting a lack of professionalism turned victory into defeat at Wigan on Saturday.

The Blackburn Rovers striker looked to have sent his side on their way with an early opener at the DW Stadium but slammed the eventual 4-3 defeat as “shocking”.

A treacherous waterlogged pitch made conditions farcical as the game wore on but a furious Roberts was not about to blame the pitch for his side’s collapse.

He said: “We’re very disappointed with the result. We didn’t show the professional attitude we needed after going a goal up.

“To let the game run away from us the way we did was shocking from our point of view, so that dressing room is really disappointed.”

“There are no excuses, it’s the same for both teams – it wasn’t good enough from our point of view.

“You can talk about the pitch but they seemed to do all right with it and so did we at times. We didn’t defend the way we should have done, so we’re not blaming the pitch.”

After Roberts’ opener, a James McCarthy brace sandwiched Hugo Rodallega’s strike as Wigan took advantage of some woeful Rovers defender to race into a 3-1 lead.

Chris Samba’s header gave the visitors hope but Ben Watson’s spot kick soon after sealed the hosts’ win, despite David Dunn’s penalty setting up a frantic finale.

“I used to play here, so I know what it’s like,” said Roberts. “It’s not a great pitch.

“But they dealt with it well enough, although they conceded three as well. We conceded four and that’s not good from our point of view, no matter what the pitch is like.

“Maybe they could turn it to their advantage, but listen we just didn’t play very well and we’re not using the pitch as an excuse.”

Rovers have now lost consecutive Premier League matches, as well as an FA Cup defeat at Aston Villa, as they drop back out of the Premier League top half.

And with Newcastle due at Ewood Park this weekend, Roberts knows the importance of getting back to winning ways as soon as possible.

He said: “We’re not worried but we’re certainly in a worse position than we were a couple of weeks ago.

“We know we have to get it right and get some more points so that makes Newcastle a huge game for us next week. It becomes even more important now.

“It’s very disappointing. We know how to win football matches at this club and we didn’t do that today.”