Wigan Athletic vs Swansea City. Sky Bet Championship.
DW StadiumAttendance11,634.
Report and free match highlights from the Sky Bet Championship match between Wigan and Swansea at the DW Stadium as Latics moved a step closer to relegation after Joel Piroe's first-half double on Easter Monday.
Monday 10 April 2023 19:10, UK
Wigan took another step towards an immediate return to Sky Bet League One after going down 2-0 at home to midtable Swansea with barely a whimper.
A first-half brace from Dutch striker Joel Piroe claimed maximum points against the Championship basement boys, who remain eight points adrift of safety and with only five matches left to pull off what looks to be an impossible task of survival.
The home side actually started the brighter and were almost in front with their first attack.
Wonderful vision from Callum Lang saw him release James McClean down the left channel.
The Republic of Ireland international controlled and fired goalwards, only for his shot to be blocked almost on the goal line by Nathan Wood.
Unfortunately for Wigan, that was about the sum total of their first-half threat as Swansea quickly gained total control over proceedings.
A nice move from the visitors, involving Jay Fulton and Joe Allen, saw the ball find Piroe, who fired wide of the mark.
However, Wigan were not so lucky after 14 minutes when Piroe gave Swansea the lead.
Fulton found the Dutchman via a slight deflection which deceived Ryan Nyambe and Piroe slotted the ball home coolly past Ben Amos.
At the other end, Swansea goalkeeper Andy Fisher - making a return to his hometown - could not hold a Max Power corner, only for Tom Naylor to fire over the crossbar.
Fisher then comfortably dealt with an Ashley Fletcher header off another Power delivery, before Swansea gained a stranglehold on the game.
Somehow, the Latics got away with one when Jamie Paterson cut into their box and wrong-footed Charlie Hughes, before being tripped by the youngster.
To the amazement of all - especially Paterson - referee Sam Allison waved away penalty appeals.
But Wigan's luck ran out after 34 minutes when Fulton again found Piroe unmarked and the left-footed finish was an almost carbon copy of the first goal.
A Piroe free-kick was then headed over the crossbar by Allen, before Wigan dodged another bullet just before the break.
Again Piroe found himself unmarked at the far post and this time he thundered a shot against the post from close range.
The scoreline hugely flattered Wigan, for whom things did not really improve after the break.
Despite the introduction of Thelo Aasgaard, Josh Magennis, top scorer Will Keane, Tom Pearce and Scott Smith - making his league debut - they were kept at arm's length.
Keane lashed a decent chance over from eight yards, before Aasgaard was given too much time and space on the edge of the Swansea box.
The Norway Under-20 international's curling effort was destined for the top corner, only for Fisher to pull off a magnificent save at full stretch.
By this point, Swansea were well and truly in cruise control, content they had already won the game with their first-half efforts.
Wigan's Shaun Maloney:
"I can't blame the players for that. I thought they were very, very good, as they have been for 12 games," he said. I'll definitely take that result on me. Coming into this game, we'd been unbeaten at home and in the position we are in, I wanted to be very, very aggressive at our own stadium.
"We could have been defensive for 90 minutes, Swansea are very good on the ball, very good in possession. But I made the decision to go very aggressive and the players did everything I asked them to do. It was one of those days where it was very difficult for us. But it also showed me how much work we have to do on the pitch - and probably even more off it."
Swansea's Russell Martin:
"I really enjoyed watching us this afternoon. They had a really good spell in that second half, which they are entitled to have at home. They're really fighting for Shaun, we watched a few of their recent performances and some of the results they've had have been really unfortunate.
"But we handled it well and the only disappointing thing is we didn't get that third goal which would have really killed it off. I'm really proud of the players, that's back-to-back clean sheets and we looked really solid defensively. We gave them very little and at the same time created so many chances for ourselves. The goals were outstanding and the second one probably encapsulates everything we work on in training."
