LATICS HELD UP BY RAILWAYMEN

GARY Caldwell was proud of his players but had to settle for a point as high-flying Wigan were held by struggling Crewe at Gresty Road.

Reece Wabara gave the Latics the lead on 16 minutes with a sweet strike but the Railwaymen drew level before the break with an equally emphatic execution from Brad Inman.

Despite chances at either end in the second half neither team could curate a winner in a result that moved the visitors up to fourth place in League One.

Caldwell said: “We created numerous chances in the first half and the second half.We’ve played worse than that and won. But I’m happy with the performance.We’ll take a point and move on.

“From our point of view we’re disappointed with the Crewe goal. It’s come from our corner.

“We feel we should have won the game but we’ll have to take that. Football is sometimes like that.

“The fans can be proud of their team and the way they played their game, the way they kept pushing on and never gave up. It just didn’t fall for us. It has in the past, it didn’t this time.”

Rock-bottom Crewe started brightly and on the quarter of an hour mark Ryan Colclough made a pacey direct run at the Latics penalty area, forcing a near post save out of Jussi Jaaskelainen.

But a minute later it was Wigan who took the lead when the ball broke on the edge of the box for Wabara who smashed a half volley past Ben Garratt, igniting the 2,257 strong away following.

The visitors commanded the majority of the first half but just two minutes before the break Crewe equalised when Inman collected a pass over the top from Colclough and thumped the ball into the roof of the net.

The Railwaymen could have taken the lead moments later when Colclough picked the ball up on edge of the box before curling a wicked shot that crashed against the crossbar with Jaaskelainen beaten.

After the break Wigan went close when substitute Haris Vuckic found Yanic Wildschut who smacked the inside of the post with a 20-yard effort.

Wildschut demonstrated his pace by outrunning Semi Ajayi in a 30-yard dash but was denied twice by Ben Garratt.

Max Power tested the Crewe stopper late on but the spoils were shared, leaving Steve Davis satisfied.

He said:“I thought we were good throughout. I was surprised when we went behind because we started quite well.

“What we did do well was responded from there on.We didn’t let that affect us and we created a few chances of our own.

“I thought our goal was a terrific goal. We’ve worked on Brad getting in behind the centre halves. We came in at half-time thinking that we deserved that.

“It was a very even game. A lot of skill with some good passing on a difficult surface from both teams.

“We’re happy with a point. I’m sure they won’t be.”