• Wigan Athletic suffered a deserved derby day 1-0 defeat to local rivals Bolton Wanderers at the Brick Community Stadium.
• The visitors dominated possession and created the majority of chances but it took until the 82nd minute for them to go ahead.
• Josh Sheehan made the breakthrough when his strike from the edge of the area deceived Sam Tickle as it swerved through the air.
• Wanderers created several good chances with Mason Burstow, Max Conway and Sam Dalby all going close. Latics only real chance fell to Harrison Bettoni but he steered his effort wide of the target.
• A disappointing afternoon for Ryan Lowe’s men who just couldn’t match Wanderers’ energy and intensity.
• Latics drop to 18th place and Wanderers are now in fifth place in the League One table.

Ryan Lowe opted to name an unchanged eleven from the FA Cup victory at Preston North End.

The visitors started on the front foot and they should’ve gone ahead within the first ten minutes, Xavier Simons shot was parried by Tickle into the path of Burstow, but the striker could only drag his close range effort wide.

Wanderers were soon controlling possession and applying pressure on Latics’ goal.

Tickle made a good block to deny Conway’s header when he got onto the end of a deep cross from the right.

The first half then descended into an evenly fought but scrappy affair with neither side showing much creativity or quality.

On the hour mark Wanderers had another great opportunity.

Burstow fired a low effort across the box where Dalby looked likely to score but his first-time effort flashed wide from close range.

Bolton continued to exert pressure and Tickle had to make a smart save from Dalby.

A cross from the left was met by Dalby who directed his header for the bottom corner but Tickle got down well to push the ball away.

Latics then had a great chance to break the deadlock following a rare counterattack.

On 78 minutes Callum Wright got free inside the box on the left before cutting the ball back to Bettoni, whose first-time strike was agonisingly wide of the target.

However the visitors continued to look the most likely and on 82 minutes they scored what proved to be the winner.

The hosts tried to clear another Bolton attack and the ball fell to Josh Sheehan whose powerful strike from the edge of the box swerved past Tickle and into the back of the net.

Latics huffed and puffed but they couldn’t respond and Wanderers ran out comfortable derby day winners.

Overview 

Latics started the derby slowly and they never really recovered. They could easily have been 1-0 down early on when Burstow missed a glorious chance.

Further chances followed for the visitors and Latics were unable to create anything until Bettoni’s late effort.

Wanderers manager Steven Schumacher had got his tactics right. His team had pressed high and stretched Latics in wide areas. They dominated the midfield and controlled possession for long periods. They were dangerous in forward areas and created good chances.

Latics were lucky not to concede until the 82nd minute. For a while it looked like Wanderers had wasted their opportunities but some poor defending had allowed them to score a late winner.

Schumacher had once again tactically outthought his former colleague Lowe.

This performance was so disappointing after Latics had played so well against PNE in the FA Cup. 

In a derby game you expect the players to be highly competitive but they lost out in most of the battles around the pitch. They were unable to match Wanderers energy and intensity. They were very much second best.

New loan signing Joe Taylor made his debut from the bench, but it’s clear that Latics will need more signings before the end of the transfer window, if they going to counteract their recent drop down the table.

Post-match comments 

Afterwards, Lowe voiced his frustrations at his team’s performance and ultimately the key moments leading up to the deciding goal in the derby.

“Bitterly disappointed. We had a few moments and spells in the game,” he told the media.

“We knew they’d try and play a lot. We didn’t get out to the ball as quick as we’d like, and we didn’t get after them as much as we wanted to.

“We didn’t land on second balls, so we changed a little bit second half, just drop to see who was dictating the game.

“I’m just disappointed with the goal. We limited them; they never had many big chances, we never had many big chances at all, (apart from) Harrison’s (Bettoni) one towards the end.

“The cross and the header, heading down the middle of the goal, then to turn your back when the ball’s gone right down the middle of the goal is disappointing.

“If it’s top bins, 30 yards out, as we have done before, it’s a little bit different.

“There are a few individual errors that have led up to that goal that have cost us.”

The Gaffer further noted his side’s approach in the game, and where he felt the game was won and lost.

“We definitely could have settled. We wanted our midfielders to get on the ball more and take more risks, take more touches, and move the ball side-to-side which we’ve done.

“We’ve done that against a good Championship team last week, we’ve done that in games this season.

“Whether the emotion of the derby got to them a little bit, I don’t know. We need to be braver on the ball. We didn’t settle.”

Lowe, however, concluded his post-match reaction with a clear message to his side, and what he wants the attitude to be following a disappointment.

“I want us to win every game of course, especially derbies. We wanted to get right on the front foot.

“We’ve got to believe a little bit more, because we did it last week.

“I know it’s disappointing for our fans, we’ve got to use it as motivation and try to be better in the next game.”

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