• It was a frustrating afternoon for Wigan Athletic as they drew 1-1 with Leyton Orient at Brisbane Road.
• Latics had a golden opportunity to take the lead in the opening minute when Orient goalkeeper Sol Brynn brought down Sean Clare, but Stephen Humphrys failed to convert the resulting penalty.
• In an end-to-end first half the hosts went ahead with a superb strike from Shaq Forde on 18 minutes.
• But Latics drew level on 46 minutes when Humphrys redeemed his penalty miss with an excellent drive into the bottom corner.
• The hosts had the better of the second half and Latics faded to settle for an away point.
• Latics remain in 18th and Orient are in 14th place in the League One table.

Shaun Maloney made three changes from Latics’ last league outing at Cheltenham with Clare, Kell Watts and Callum McManaman starting.

Latics attacked from the kick off and they had a great opportunity in only the first minute.

Callum Lang found Clare in behind the Orient defence. Clare knocked the ball beyond goalkeeper Sol Brynn, who brought the wing back down, and after initial hesitation by referee Sam Purkiss Latics were awarded a penalty.

Humphrys stepped up but for the second league away game running he failed to convert. His powerful penalty hitting the post and going wide.

Latics were stunned and the hosts would have taken the lead if not for a brilliant save from Sam Tickle.

Ruel Sotiriou was allowed to get behind the Latics defence but he couldn’t find a way past Tickle who did superbly to close down the striker before claiming the ball.

Tickle saved well again soon afterwards. Theo Archibald found space down the left-hand side and crossed onto the head of Joe Pigott, who saw his effort well held by the Latics goalkeeper.

It was end-to-end stuff now and Maloney’s men created another good opportunity in the 16th minute.

McManaman and Jordan Jones linked up down the left with Jones’ cross into the area eventually falling to Humphrys who saw his shot excellently blocked by a combination of Ed Turns and Dan Happe.

Two minutes later and the hosts were ahead.

A long ball from the back found Sotiriou who flicked the ball onto Shaq Forde and the winger cut inside and curled a tremendous strike into the top corner from the edge of the penalty area.

Forde should have added a second goal in the 20th minute but this time he dragged his shot wide of the far post.

Tickle was in the action again in the 30th minute when Archibald tried his luck from nearly 40 yards out, but the Tics keeper did well to palm the strike around the post.

As the match moved towards half-time Latics found the equalising goal in the 46th minute thanks to a superb Humphrys strike.

Jones played a short free-kick to Humphrys and the former Rochdale striker took the ball towards the penalty area before sending a powerful low drive into the bottom corner.

1-1 at Half-time.

The first chance of the second half fell to the hosts with Forde’s cross well defended by Clare to prevent it reaching Pigott for a tap in.

At the other end Charlie Hughes found Jones in behind the Orient defence and the winger cut the ball back to Lang, but Happe was in the right place to intercept the pass.

Latics huffed and puffed and struggled to create any clear-cut chances in the second half. The hosts always looked a threat but Latics held firm. A share of the points was probably a fair result at the end.

Overview

Like Cheltenham this was a missed opportunity by Latics. Once again they started well and should have taken the lead from Humphrys early penalty. However for the second league away game in succession the striker failed to convert from the spot.

As well as the penalty they had early chances to put the game out of Orient’s reach but they failed to capitalise.

Against the run of play the hosts hit Latics on the counterattack and grew in confidence.

Humphrys did at least partially redeem himself by equalising with an excellent strike just before half-time.

If Latics had won at Cheltenham and Orient the additional four points would have put them in 13th place.

There is definitely a sense that this was a missed opportunity to move up the table but Maloney’s team of free transfers, loans and academy graduates are still very much a work in progress with plenty of room for improvement.

Latics could easily have lost at Orient as they were left exposed on several occasions.

Man of the match Sam Tickle made several important saves which kept Latics in the game.

It should also be noted that Latics have got several players missing due to injury. Matt Smith, Thelo Aasgaard, Stephen Sessegnon, Liam Morrison, and Jason Kerr are all unavailable.

Maloney will be looking for improved performances against Fleetwood Town on Tuesday night and against York City in the FA Cup on Friday.

Post match comments

Speaking post-game to the media, Manager Shaun Maloney thought a point was a fair result for both sides. 

“It probably was (a fair result). I don’t think there was much control in that game. In the first half, there were more chances, but it never felt like a controlled game,” he admitted.

“The big positive for us is we’ve had plenty of games like that this season, Stevenage, Burton, Cheltenham. It felt like we stood up to the longer ball, the physicality. I spoke to the players, and that’s the biggest positive we’ve got. I’d like us to play a bit more at times, but a point is about right, I think.

“I want us to be hard to beat, I want us to be able to do lots of things. High press when we have to, defend the long ball when we have to. Today, we showed a side to us that is, getting better. [In the past] we have come to games like this and we come away with nothing.”

The Gaffer also had plenty of praise for the mentality of goalscorer Humphrys after he missed a first minute penalty, before grabbing the vital equaliser on the stroke of half-time.

“It shows his mentality, wanting to take the penalty again, he continued.

“He’s in very good form. He is really leading the team from his position. It was an outstanding goal. He’s a really talented boy and there is loads more to come from him.

“When he came off, we had to change slightly but hopefully, he’ll be alright.”

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