Wigan Athletic vs Luton Town. Sky Bet Championship.
DW StadiumAttendance11,125.
Report and free match highlights from the Sky Bet Championship match between Wigan and Luton Town at the DW Stadium as goals from Harry Cornick and Elijah Adebayo fired the Hatters to victory on Saturday.
Saturday 21 January 2023 19:02, UK
Wigan remain rooted to the bottom of the Sky Bet Championship after suffering a second home defeat to Luton in the space of four days - with the Hatters easing to a 2-0 win.
The two sides must be sick of the sight of each other, given this was the third meeting already in 2023, and the fourth of the campaign.
Having won on this ground in midweek to advance to the fourth round of the FA Cup, Luton started the brighter and took only 11 minutes to open the scoring.
Wigan only had themselves to blame, with two of their three January signings - Miguel Azeez and Steven Caulker - involved in a defensive muddle.
That allowed Harry Cornick to nip in and seize possession and, after holding off an attempted foul, he found the Wigan net via a sizeable deflection that deceived goalkeeper Ben Amos.
Wigan continued to try to play it out from the back at every opportunity, although the players did not seem totally at ease in doing so.
Luton threatened again when Elijah Adebayo got himself free down the left channel, but his powerful shot beat the far post as well as the diving Amos.
Wigan thought they had levelled midway through the first period when Ashley Fletcher sent a bullet header from Charlie Hughes' pinpoint cross into the top corner of Ethan Horvath's net.
Unfortunately for the home side, the flag was up on the far side for a very marginal offside call.
Fletcher was then close to getting on the end of a drilled cross from Max Power, only for a lunging defender to divert the ball behind for a corner.
Wigan desperately needed to score the next goal, but it was the visitors who doubled their lead nine minutes after the restart.
Again it was a poor goal for Wigan to concede, with Curtis Tilt being left for dead by Elijah Adebayo, who collected a return pass from Cornick before slotting past Amos with ease.
The frustration inside the ground became evident when loud booing greeted a double Wigan substitution, with the home fans venting their displeasure at seeing Hughes and Azeez - two of their better performers - make way for Thelo Aasgaard and Callum Lang.
Midfielder Christ Tiehi - making his Wigan debut after a loan move from Slovan Liberec - shot just wide as Wigan tried to rally.
But the visitors looked just as likely if not more so to find another goal, as the confidence of the Wigan players visibly slipped away as time ticked by.
The Hatters are now out of the play-off positions on goal difference only, while Wigan look like they'll need every single one of the 16 days until their next fixture to regroup.
Wigan's Kolo Toure:
"We conceded another cheap goal early on and, when that is the case, it is very difficult for you. After the first 20 minutes, I thought things got better, the link-up play got better, and we were on the front foot as the game entered the second half. We were putting them under pressure, but then we conceded another cheap goal. We have to be more ruthless in both boxes.
"We did manage to score a good goal, but unfortunately it was disallowed for offside. I don't know if it was offside, it was very close, but that is the way things are going for us. The boys are continuing to give me everything, that is never in doubt. But individual errors are costing us any chance in games."
Luton's Rob Edwards:
"It has been very good and a really good response after losing a week ago today after being two-nil up. It did hurt us so it has been a really good response. The first goal in any game is really key. The second goal then if you get it makes it a little bit more comfortable.
"I never felt fully comfortable because Wigan put us under a lot of pressure, it was difficult to defend the long balls and up against a couple of big strikers. They're a big threat but I was delighted with the timings of the goals, thought they were really well-worked goals as well."
