Leam Richardson pleased with point as Wigan look to follow Burton in staying up
Posted Sunday, April 25, 2021 by PA
Leam Richardson felt Wigan’s draw with Burton was one point gained rather than two points dropped in their fight to avoid relegation from Sky Bet League One.
The Brewers secured their place in the third tier – having looked dead and buried at the halfway stage of the campaign – thanks to the 1-1 draw at the DW Stadium, where Wigan striker Will Keane cancelled out Joe Powell’s early opener.
But Wigan still have work to do despite remaining four points clear of fourth-bottom Northampton with two matches to go.
“I thought it was a good point, a fair result, on the balance of the game,” said Richardson, who was named Wigan’s full-time manager on Wednesday afternoon.
“We started the game a little bit slowly if I’m honest.
“You have to match Burton’s fight, they’re up there in the form table for a reason, the distances they cover are fantastic.
“You’ve got to move the ball quickly to go through them, or try and move the ball round them.
“It was great the lads responded so well to going a goal behind early.
“After the 15-minute mark, I thought we started to do that, and you’re then waiting for your quality players to kick in.
“Thankfully Will was on hand again and it was another important goal for us.”
Wigan visit Hull next weekend, and Richardson was quick to hail the achievements of the Tigers in securing an automatic return to the Championship.
“Congratulations to Hull for getting promoted,” he added.
“They’ve been fantastic this year, and they’ll provide a massive challenge to us next weekend.
“But hopefully we can land the right side of the result and do what we need to do.
“We’ve been saying for a while that we can’t take anything for granted in this situation.
“We’ve got a great challenge still in front of us, and two big games to take care of in Hull and Swindon.
“As long as we match the results of the teams below us we’ll be all right.”
For Burton manager Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink, the result confirmed a wonderful achievement, having taken over midway through the campaign with the Brewers rock bottom of the table.
“I’m absolutely delighted to be safe with three games to go, we cannot be caught,” he said.
“It was not pretty at times today, but it was never going to be pretty with two sides fighting for their lives.
“In these kinds of matches, you end up playing the result rather than the game, and you can’t do anything about that.
“The games tend to be not great spectacles, but we fought to get a foothold in the game, and we started really well.
“After the goal, we didn’t play so well, and in the second half both sides cancelled each other out.”
The Dutchman also lavished praise on goalscorer Powell, whose 16th-minute opener was as good a free-kick as any scored over the weekend at any level.
“I had a magnificent view of it, and he could not have struck it any better,” added Hasselbaink.
“That’s the quality he has, and with that quality he should be doing a lot more in open play.
“We will work hard on that in pre-season, and I’m delighted with him for scoring such a brilliant goal.
“The only disappointment was we didn’t keep doing the things we had done to get into the lead.”
- Tag:
Photos
More»
Meet Eva Murati, the glamorous UCL presenter
Friday April 26 2024
[PICTURE SPECIAL] Brighton 0 - 4 Manchester City
Friday April 26 2024
Meet Jude Bellingham's stunning girlfriend Laura
Thursday April 25 2024
Your Say