Wadsworth puts the Wigan game into perspective

Athletic’s trip to Wigan saw them fall behind for the seventh game in succession —– and their coach admitted the problem had to be stamped out. Mick Wadsworth, who said he would “dearly love” to reach the play-offs this season, was frustrated that his side had to play catch-up again. Wadsworth explained, “You have to keep clean sheets if you are going to mount an assault, but we are going behind in too many games. You can't keep coming back for a win or a point, and this time we've paid for it. It's always hard to win away from home and the fact we play open, attacking football will often leave the back door open. But we'll keep working on a strategy which is watertight because we haven't been able to develop that yet. It was always going to be a very
tight game and had 1-0 written all over it from the first minute."


"There was nothing between the sides from start to finish, but we had good chances to get a couple of goals. Carlo Corazzin had two fantastic opportunities and there were others for Allan Smart, Julien Baudet and Darren Sheridan. We need to be more ruthless at both ends because that's where games are won and lost — if you miss your gilt-edged chances, you pay the consequences. I would have been happy with a draw because Wigan are a good team, but this is no disaster and there's still everything to play for at the top of the table."


"Although we've lost ground, there are more home games left than away games and we have to get cracking in them. You always take positives and, if you look
where we started in November, the fortunes of the club show a huge improvement. The fans can see that because they are turning up in greater numbers, and you can be sure we won't take our eye off the ball. They are all big games for us now and we would dearly love to make the play-offs. But it's a lot nicer being in this situation than being at the bottom, so I don't feel any pressure.”