Sheff Wed 2-1 Wigan: Carlos Carvalhal and Gary Caldwell reaction
Saturday 10 September 2016 22:21, UK
Sheffield Wednesday head coach Carlos Carvalhal believes his players have rediscovered the fighting qualities which helped them go all the way to the Sky Bet Championship play-off final last season.
The Owls came from behind to beat Wigan 2-1 on Saturday and Carvalhal thinks they displayed the same desire which almost took them to the Premier League.
Goals from Steven Fletcher and Fernando Forestieri secured a second Championship win of the season after Will Grigg's early opener.
Carvalhal said: "We lost 3-1 at Burnley last season and we discovered our team, we discovered our heart (in that game).
"We want to be the mirror of the city and of the region of Yorkshire. We put our heart on the pitch (against Wigan)."
Carvalhal admitted the scoreline could have looked a lot more comfortable for his side.
"The feeling that I have now is my players and the fans don't deserve to suffer," he said.
"We really played very well. We started losing the game, but we never lost the balance of the team.
"Wigan played very compact and they controlled the ways to the goal. We discovered the way to make it 1-1. We had some chances and at the break we knew we must win.
"In the second half we pressed and we tried to open the defence of Wigan. We had some clear chances to score more goals and to win comfortably.
"The most important thing was to win and it was important to take a step forward.
"We played with quality and we missed some chances, but we won."
Grigg gave Wigan the lead from close range after the home side had been punished for a weak pass by captain Tom Lees.
Fletcher's first goal for the Owls drew the home side level when he latched on to a pass over the defence by Barry Bannan and held off his marker before sliding the ball left-footed across Adam Bogdan and into the far corner.
Wednesday dominated the second half and could have scored several more goals, but one was enough to earn them the three points.
Forestieri provided a quality finish from a tight angle after his low cross had been cleared back to him by the Wigan defence.
The visitors rarely threatened in the second half, while at the other end Fletcher saw his header hit the top of the bar and substitute Gary Hooper's overhead kick was straight at Bogdan.
Wigan manager Gary Caldwell accepted his side were beaten by the better team.
"Sometimes you have to hold your hands up and say the better team won," he said.
"We got ourselves in a great position scoring a fantastic goal early on.
"It became too much with the attacking threat Sheffield Wednesday have got.
"We didn't do a lot to score the goal. We got in a good shape which we have been working on and picked off a pass. If we had built on that we could have quietened the crowd.
"We defended for a lot of time and if you do that against good players you are going to get picked off.
"We have lost games by the odd goal and I believe a win is around the corner."
