• Wigan Athletic leapfrogged Exeter City in the battle for League One survival with a 2-0 victory at the Brick Community Stadium.
• Latics took an early lead when Fraser Murray’s inviting left-wing cross was headed home by on-fire striker Joe Taylor.
• Harrison Bettoni nearly doubled Latics lead when he lobbed Joe Whitworth from 30 yards but his instinctive effort came back off the crossbar.
• Latics lead was threatened in the second half when former Latics striker Josh Magennis set up substitute Akeel Higgins, who fired narrowly wide of the target.
• The Grecians almost drew level when Higgins forced a point-blank range save from Sam Tickle, with Carlos Mendes-Gomes blazing the rebound wide.
• The hosts sealed the three points on 85 minutes when Murray’s in-swinging left-wing corner found the top corner of the Exeter net.
• Latics move up to 19th and the Grecians drop to 20th in the League One table.

Gary Caldwell made two changes from the midweek draw at Oakwell, with Caylan Vickers and Harrison Bettoni replacing Callum Wright (suspended) and Christian Saydee in the starting line-up.

Latics raced into the lead after only five minutes.

Murray beat his marker and produced an inviting cross for the unmarked Taylor to head into the top corner of the net. 

The visitors quickly made a change in formation as former Latic Magennis was introduced in place of Tymur Tutierov on 14 minutes.

On 34 minutes Harrison Bettoni nearly doubled Latics lead when he lobbed Joe Whitworth from 30 yards but his instinctive effort came back off the crossbar. 

In the second half Will Aimson nearly got on the scoresheet when he got across his marker from a corner to glance a header towards the far post but it was narrowly wide of the post. 

Exeter gradually started to create opportunities as the half progressed and Magennis rolled his marker to feed Akeel Higgins for a first-time curling effort which wasn’t too wide of the target.

Latics were allowing the visitors too much possession and after a cross into the box by Magennis, McMillan was denied by Tickle, who produced a point-blank save before Mendes-Gomes blazed wide. 

Latics now desperately needed a second goal to seal the three points and it arrived on 85 minutes.

Murray’s in-swinging corner from the left evaded everyone and found the back of the net to secure the vital victory in Latics fight for survival.

Overview 

Latics moved a little further away from the relegation zone with this vital victory against one of their relegation rivals. They had made it seven points from a possible nine in an unbeaten week.

They are now three points ahead of 20th place Exeter and 21st place Blackpool with a game in hand on both.

Latics have eight games remaining with Port Vale, Northampton and Rotherham looking likely to be relegated and the final relegation place to be decided.

Latics’ progress under Caldwell has been quite remarkable. The turn around has meant that they are now one of the form teams in the division. They’ve been transformed in the space of just a few weeks.

They have also done incredibly well to have secured the services of Joe Taylor who marked his ninth goal in his 12 league appearances since joining on loan from Huddersfield in January. If only they could somehow secure his services for next season.

Post-match comments

Speaking afterwards Caldwell praised his players for both their performance against his former side and their progress since he returned to the Club. 

“It was very difficult,” he told the media.

“We knew before the game how difficult it would be. I thought Exeter had some really good spells in the game and put us under pressure, but we got there in the end. 

“It was a tough game physically because of the week both teams have had in terms of playing Saturday and Tuesday, and we kept digging in and finding more in difficult moments.

“I said to the players that it’s a great credit to them for what they’ve done in a short period of time.

“Their togetherness, desire, and hunger just to win a game of football were incredible today, but there are also still parts of the game where we have to improve.

“We have to keep progressing now. When we win a game, we still have to look to improve in the week and get better for next Saturday.

“There is still a long way to go. Teams around us are winning games, and it’s still very tight, so we have to focus on performance levels and how we develop and keep getting better.

“When you win a game of football, there are still things I want from the players, and I want to see them hungry to learn and keep improving from now and until the end of the season.

“If we do that, we will keep winning games and get better as we go along.”

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