Matt Gilks saved Jordan Hugill’s penalty

Latics were held to a hard-fought 0-0 draw by Preston North End at the DW Stadium.

In a game of few chances Latics’ Matt Gilks saved a penalty and the follow up from Jordan Hugill and they were denied a penalty themselves when Paul Huntingdon brought down Omar Bogle in the area but referee Chris Kavanagh waved away appeals.

Bogle might have won it for Wigan in the second half when he had a one-on-one opportunity but he was denied by Greg Cunningham’s last ditch tackle.

Latics remain in 22nd in the table, two points behind Bristol City and North End remain 10th.

Warren Joyce made one change to the team which had won at Wolves with Ryan Tunnicliffe replacing the injured Michael Jacobs.

Latics were on top in the early minutes with Omar Bogle posing plenty of problems, first he forced Chris Maxwell into a good save at the near post and then had a header cleared off the line by Ben Pearson.

Bogle was then in the action for the wrong reasons as he fouled Callum Robinson in his own area and the referee awarded a penalty.

North End’s top scorer Hugill took the spot kick and Gilks saved low down to his left, the ball came back out to Hugill and Gilks saved superbly for the second time but this time to his right.

North End’s Aiden McGeedy was lucky to escape with a only a yellow card on 36 minutes when he made a two footed challenge on Shaun MacDonald.

Fortunately the Latics midfielder was not seriously injured in the incident.

Sam Morsy then drove forward at the North End defence and saw his shot deflected just wide of the post.

Three minutes later Latics had a very good shout for a penalty when Paul Huntingdon brought down Bogle in the box. Referee Kavanagh waved away appeals despite it looking like a very similar challenge to the one which gave North End a penalty at the other end.

North End started briskly at the start of second half with Ben Pearson shooting wide before Latics responded with Callum Connolly shooting over the crossbar in the 51st minute.

Preston made a double change on 60 minutes with Jermain Beckford and Simon Makienok replacing Hugill and Robinson.

Beckford soon tried his luck from distance but his shot was well over the crossbar.

Bogle then had the best chance of the game for Latics but he was denied by a superb last ditch tackle from Greg Cunningham when he was one-on-one with the North End keeper.

Jamie Hanson replaced Max Power in midfield on 76 minutes but it was perhaps surprising that Joyce did not introduce winger Gabriel Obertan in an attempt to win the game.

Ryan Tunnicliffe had an effort from 20 yards after 84 minutes, then Bogle tried a speculative attempt from the right hand side three minutes later but his shot over was well over the crossbar.

Latics continued to press in added time but they were unable to break the deadlock. It was disappointing not to take all three points but the point gained keeps them in touching distance of the teams above them with 14 games still to play.