Caldwell’s troops don tin hats to secure win
GARY CALDWELL says his team’s spirit saved the day as Wigan edged out Fleetwood Town at the DW Stadium.
Goals either side of half-time from Jordan Flores and Michael Jacobs put the Latics in a superb position after dominating for long periods.
Fleetwood responded ten minutes into the second period through Tyler Hornby-Forbes but could not find an equaliser - to the relief of Caldwell.
He said:“The first 55 minutes to an hour I thought we were excellent. We passed the ball very well, gave them lots of problems in midfield with our shape and controlled the game and should have been more in front.
“That’s a lesson we have to learn. At 2-0 the game is never over and you can’t allow teams back into the game like we did but we want to focus on that first part and use that to be taken forward.
“We put ourselves under pressure but we showed our character again when we had to dig in and put our tin hats on and fight for the three points and everyone did that.”
The Latics took a deserved lead seven minutes before the break when the visitors failed to deal with a Jacobs cross and Flores was on hand to smash the ball into the net from 12 yards on his home debut.
Wigan extended their lead immediately after half-time when Jacobs expertly converted a low cross from Reece James.
The Cod Army pulled one back on the hour when Antoni Sarcevic saw his free-kick propel into the air off the wall before Hornby-Forbes reacted quickest to volley home from close range.
Wigan were pushed further back and Jamie Proctor flashed a header just wide with 20 minutes to play, as Fleetwood smelt blood.
Sanmi Odelusi saw a close-range effort blocked before the substitute miscued clean through on goal with just four minutes to play.
At the death, David Ball scrambled a shot wide from six yards for Fleetwood as the Latics survived six minutes of time added on for the win. Fleetwood manager Graham Alexander said: “We didn’t compete at the level we expect for the first 55 minutes and by then you’re 2-0 down and it’s a hill to climb.
“The players to their credit did their best to do that and got close, but we’d already put ourselves on the back foot by our performance level in the first 55 minutes.
“No matter what you do, if you’re just going to give goals away you’re going to put yourself in trouble and that’s what we did. It’s not the first time so it’s something that we have to really work hard on.”