Hutchinson howler gifts points to Cook
PAUL COOK praised the character of his Wigan players after they gave him the perfect 53rd birthday present by continuing their recent revival.
Shaun Hutchinson’s second-half own goal moved the Latics to within two points of safety as Millwall’s play-off hopes suffered a setback.
Cook said: “We deserved the win – we were good in general.
“With a bit of luck we can stay up.
“The lads had to stand up and fight for themselves, we defended well and I’m delighted they got the clean sheet.”
Defender Hutchinson turned Anthony Pilkington’s cross into his own net for the only goal of the game in the 57th minute.
It was no more than Wigan deserved. Pilkington had a shot saved by Bartosz Bialkowski and saw another effort deflected just wide.
Millwall boss Gary Rowett said: “It’s disappointing because we came into the game on the back of two good performances against Fulham and Preston.
“We seem to be able to lift ourselves for the teams in the upper half of the table but don’t have the right mentality in these type of games.
“We never really got going. Sometimes you have to take the game by the scruff of the neck. We looked like we were waiting for something to happen.
“Only in the last 20 minutes did we look like we wanted to get back in it.”
However, Rowett felt Ryan Woods should have had a penalty in the first half when he was sent tumbling in the box only for referee Jeremy Simpson to award a free-kick on the edge of the area.