Wigan Athletic caretaker manager Leam Richardson felt his side were good value for their victory over Northampton Town on Tuesday night after Callum Lang struck a priceless late winner at the PTS Academy Stadium.
Wigan Athletic, which was without star defender Tom Pearce and forward Jamie Proctor for their trip to Northamptonshire, started very brightly, and had a great opportunity to break the deadlock inside the first two-minutes.
Will Keane was expertly denied by goalkeeper Jonathan Mitchell when he was through on goal, before Thelo Aasgaard's follow-up effort cannoned off Lang and went agonisingly wide of the post.
After Wigan controlled possession for large spells in the opening quarter, Northampton Town began to grow into the match and put Leam Richardson's side under some pressure in the final third.
The Cobblers' best chance in the first-half fell to Luton Town loanee Peter Kioso, but he could only slice his effort over the crossbar after the ball fell kindly to him in the danger zone.
The tense Sky Bet League One encounter appeared to be petering out to a goalless draw until Lang popped-up with a moment of individual magic to win the match for Wigan Athletic in the 81st minute.
A mistake by Northampton Town captain Cian Bolger allowed Lang to race through on goal, and the 22-year-old managed to wrestle away from two opposition defenders before drilling an empathic finish into the bottom corner.
Following their crucial 1-0 win over 23rd placed Northampton Town, Wigan Athletic are now only sitting in the relegation zone on goal difference.
Latics interim boss Richardson was bursting with pride after his players fought with real togetherness to claim their first victory of 2021.
"I am made up for the lads tonight. I thought they worked tirelessly hard coming off a disappointing result at the weekend, and disappointing news after it." He said.
"Northampton offer a really tough test, but I thought they stood up to it really well and deserved a result.
"We knew we'd need a moment of quality and thankfully it fell to Callum Lang who took his goal really well.
"I really enjoyed how they all pulled together. I thought we defended really well - even from the front - all the way to the back with Jamie Jones' clean sheet and George (Johnston), Curtis (Tilt), and Scotty Wootton there who were like three men back then, and you need that at this time of the year coming to places like this.
"With the situation we are in, we cannot carry anybody.
"We are not blessed with good numbers- we've missed out on Proctor and Pearce tonight- and it hurts us because we haven't got big numbers but when lads pull together like that, you can do certain things and you can do magnificent things and tonight, they pulled together and deserved the win."
