Wigan Athletic vs Huddersfield Town. Sky Bet Championship.
DW StadiumAttendance12,268.
Report and free match highlights from the Sky Bet Championship match between Wigan and Huddersfield at the DW Stadium as Jack Whatmough struck late to earn a vital win for Shaun Maloney's Latics on Saturday.
Saturday 11 February 2023 18:42, UK
Jack Whatmough headed home the only goal with 10 minutes of the match left as Wigan moved off the foot of the Sky Bet Championship table with a 1-0 victory over managerless Huddersfield.
The big centre-back had admitted in the lead-up to the game it would be the biggest fixture since he arrived at Wigan from Portsmouth in the summer of 2021.
And he capped a man-of-the-match performance with the crucial contribution to give his side their first victory in three months - and their first under new manager Shaun Maloney.
Huddersfield - who slip to second from bottom - had got off to a disappointing start when they lost Ollie Turton in the opening exchanges to injury, with Will Boyle coming on to replace him.
In the melee that followed, it looked very much like a Wigan hand may have touched the ball but the referee waved play on.
At the other end, a James McClean corner was half cleared to Whatmough, who tried an overhead kick which went wide, but the referee awarded a free-kick for a high foot in any case.
Recent Huddersfield signing Anthony Knockaert also tried his luck from distance, with the ball flying just wide of a post.
He sank to his knees in anguish, but on the replay it looked like Ben Amos had it covered.
Amos was needed again moments later, easily clutching a free-kick from Hungbo, who was in the middle of most of what Huddersfield were producing.
There followed a comedy moment when the referee got in the way to break up a Wigan move, much to the annoyance of the home fans.
It threatened to get a lot worse when Knockaert took the ball into the Wigan box and seemed to be taken out, with the referee perhaps wisely waving play on.
Huddersfield were forced into a goalkeeping change in the second half, with Tomas Vaclik having to go off in some discomfort and Nicholas Bilokapic on for a rare start.
Knockaert also went off along with former Wigan man Martyn Waghorn, who had shown some signs of promise going forward.
Wigan had a couple of shouts for a penalty for handball, with the second one in particular appearing to be a decent shout, only for the official to again be unmoved.
The home side sent on Tom Pearce at left wing-back and the new man immediately went about sending over some quality balls from out wide.
It looked as though Huddersfield would manage to hold out, but their resistance was finally broken with 10 minutes to go.
McClean it was who sent over a deep corner, and Whatmough's bullet header flew into the top corner to the delight of most inside the DW.
Wigan's Shaun Maloney:
"I guess the result was all important today. Obviously you're really aware of the situation, but in terms of the work we put in, and how we prepared, I hope we took the pressure off the players. The performance, probably, was similar from both teams, they were possibly a bit more dominant in the first half, we were a bit more dominant in the second half. I definitely felt the momentum switch after half-time, and I'm just really pleased for the players.
"It gives them belief and a bit more confidence that this is possible. Neither side created too much, but our fans stuck with us, and at no point did I sense any negativity from the players. Big thanks to them for that, and also credit to the players for the fight they showed, all the way to the last free-kick at the death. I was really happy with the subs as well, obviously we had to change the line-up, people came into the squad and into the team, and everyone reacted very well."
Huddersfield interim boss Narcis Pelach:
"In the first half, we showed what we wanted to do, I think the team was understanding well, and showing balance. In the second half, it was the same for the first 10 minutes, but then we disappeared completely. We need to understand why that happened, because we need to improve and we need to do it quickly. We disappeared in terms of having the ball. If they counter-press you with intensity, you have the option to play long and put them on the back foot. But we stopped giving the solutions we were showing in the first half, with the ball. Without the ball, we also lost control, and I am not happy with what happened in the second half.
"We lost the goal from a corner, and that can happen, it's not down to tactics. But we cannot let this happen, the way we lost control in the second half. It's maybe a matter of concentration, we need to reach the end of the game with clarity. Too often in the last 15 or 20 minutes we are conceding goals. We have spoken about that before, but it's the momentum in games that is going against us. The situation is not easy, but in those moments of the game, we are not good enough. We will try to improve and we have to improve."
