Latics manager Dave Penney was obviously pleased with the point picked up at high flying Southampton on Tuesday night. He said, “It was always a tough place to come to and we set out our stall once again to make sure we got something out of the game. We didn’t have as much possession as we would have liked and that is because we gave the ball away cheaply. You have to admire the players for the commitment, desire, work-rate and organisation they showed to grind out a result. We limited them in the first half and then in the second they were gambling as they needed to win to get closer to the play-offs."
“There were a lot of long balls into the box and generally we headed them out or Darryl Flahavan came out to catch them. There were a couple of scary moments – but they had a couple as well. They went to Bristol Rovers recently and put five past them. It would have been quite easy to come here and play an open, attacking game and get battered. We wanted to stay in the game and get something out of it and with a bit of luck, maybe we could have nicked something. We are still not safe and need more points in my view, but we will carry on going out to keep picking the points up. Tom Eaves is raw and has strength and caused them problems. He is one for the future and at the moment he is doing great.”