Second-half goals from Callum Lang and James McClean saw Wigan Athletic defeat Crewe Alexandra at the DW Stadium, the visitors losing their sixth game in a row as they returned to the bottom of the league after a Doncaster Rovers win at Lincoln City.
Manager David Artell made three changes from Saturday’s 4-1 defeat at Accrington Stanley with captain Luke Murphy coming into the midfield while Chris Long and Bassala Sambou would start in the front 3 as we returned to the 4-3-3 as Rekeem Harper and Travis Johnson would both drop to the bench and Scott Robertson not involved at all.
The opening chance came in the 6th minute with Will Keane having a shot that deflected behind for a corner before the first Alex chance came 11 minutes later as Long would hit a shot wide on the turn following a free-kick from Tom Lowery that was kept alive by Sambou. Dave Richards would deny Jack Whatmough’s header as the Alex would go in level at the break.
The opening goal of the game came 13 minutes after the break with Lang heading home a cross from the left before Richards would produce a double save to deny substitutes Graeme Shinnie and Humphrys. It was all to no avail though as McClean would double the lead with 8 minutes to play with a deflected effort off substitute Johnson.
Our next couple of games sees the Alex host Portsmouth on Saturday before a home game against Oxford United next Tuesday.
What can we take out of this game?
The first goal came from another cross where we didn’t get tight enough, both to the crosser or Lang in the middle with the second coming from heading the ball out to a Wigan player who would find the unmarked McClean arriving late into the box from deep – both goals being disappointing ones to concede.