Wigan 2-1 Brentford: Latics win third game in a row

Sam Morsy scored the first and made the second goal as Wigan beat Brentford 2-1 in the Sky Bet Championship - their third win in a row.

Morsy opened the scoring just before the half-hour with a fine strike, before his cross was turned into his own net by the unfortunate Harlee Dean to make it two on 32 minutes.

Substitute Jota ensured a tense finale when he pulled one back for the Bees inside the last five minutes, but Wigan deservedly took the spoils to move out of the bottom three.

Youngster Callum Connolly had been Wigan's hero of the previous week's win at Burton, and he was once more the man most likely in the opening stages.

From Michael Jacobs' left-wing corner, Connolly saw a header touched over the bar by goalkeeper Daniel Bentley, with the referee somehow not awarding another corner. Moments later Stephen Warnock crossed from the left and Connolly saw his header well parried by Bentley at the near post.

The visitors were offering very little in the opening half, and Wigan upped their game just before the half-hour mark. Brilliant work from Morsy saw the midfielder drive forward from the midfield and send a left-foot shot against the inside of the post, with Will Grigg unable to steer a difficult rebound on target.

Brentford didn't heed the warning, however, and found themselves behind on 28 minutes. Again it was Morsy was advanced from the midfield, and this time he sent his shot from 20 yards into the top corner of Bentley's net.

It was no more than Wigan deserved, and they doubled their advance just four minutes later. Grigg's shot was well saved by Bentley, with the rebound falling to Morsy. For some reason, the Egypt international elected not to shoot from a great position, but cross back into the danger zone, with the ball hitting defender Dean and rolling agonisingly over the line.

The visitors started the second half the stronger, with John Egan and Lasse Vibe firing just wide from the edge of the area. And a header from Andreas Bjelland header forced a wonderful save from Wigan goalkeeper Jakob Haugaard with 25 minutes to go.

Shaun MacDonald almost killed it off when he advanced to the edge of the area but dragged his left-foot shot wide of the far post.

And a nervy last five minutes was ensured when Haugaard couldn't hold a shot from Philipp Hoffman and Jota followed up to stab home from close range. But Wigan just about held on to secure a precious three points in their fight against the drop.

Wigan boss Warren Joyce:

"We've just got to keep taking one game at a time and doing the right things, and not take our eye off what we're trying to achieve.

"I thought there were a lot of good performances to be fair. Everybody contributed, it was a real team effort.

"We knew we had a couple of knocks and bruises, and we were a bit anxious about what kind of a side we could field. It was important we could get in a couple of extra bodies to help us between now and the end of the season."

Brentford boss Dean Smith:

"We didn't pass the ball with any purpose or very well. The pitch isn't great here, they did a job on us and they out-battled us."

"If I could put my finger on it, we wouldn't have had a performance like that."