The lads really worked their socks off

Last updated : 15 September 2004 By Tony Scholes

Wigan boss Paul Jewell, whilst disappointed with the way his team played, felt that they had still done enough to win it whilst Steve Cotterill quite rightly agreed that we were well worth our point.

“It was a poor game,” said Jewell. “They had obviously came for the draw so fair play to them, but we didn’t have the craft to break them down, it is as simple as that.

“I can’t remember either keeper making any save during the whole game, but credit to them they worked hard, made it difficult for us, which is going to happen if we have aspirations of being up there in the league.

“We have got to have a bit more guile and a bit more craft about us than we did tonight. I’m not going to be too hard on the players, I’m not happy but it just wasn’t our night, we did not do enough. I thought we saw enough of the ball to win the game.


“There will be more games like that this season, when you need something to happen to make it 1-0. They defended very well and I do give them a lot of credit, you can see that they haven’t conceded a lot of goals this season.

“When you are at home though you have to create more chances, but I thought we did enough to win the game and I thought we were the better team, but really we didn’t look like we were going to break then down.”

Steve Cotterill though saw it somewhat differently and was full of praise for the way his side defended against the likes of Ellington and Roberts.

“I thought we worked very hard and deserved that point,” he said after the game. “We were fantastic at the back and didn’t give them too much of a chance. The lads really worked their socks off and I’m pleased for them.


“I thought we had the best two chances of the game in Graham Branch’s header and Jean-Louis Valois’ shot at the end too, so we could have sneaked it at the end.

"Jean-Louis has taken a bit of ribbing for not scoring that one. I am not sure how much he understands, but he will soon learn. It was quite a hurried situation, so we will give him a bit of grace.


“We did concede a lot of territory in the second half, but they didn’t have too many chances. Everyone knows about their two strikers and they have a strong spine to the team with Bullard and Frandsen in the middle of the park.

“But all the lads worked really hard and we matched them to deserve the point.”