Leam Richardson wants more control from Wigan after battling win at Doncaster

Posted Sunday, January 16, 2022 by PA

Leam Richardson was disappointed with Wigan’s lack of control in their 2-1 win over League One’s bottom side Doncaster.

Goals from Max Power and Will Keane had the promotion-chasing visitors in command on the scoreboard, but they did not have things all their own way against a spirited Rovers side who pulled a goal back through Omar Bogle.

Richardson felt there was an element of rustiness in his side, who were playing in the league for the first time in almost a month.

“We never disrespect any team wherever they are in the league because three points are invaluable whoever you get them against and, fair credit to Doncaster, they kept us honest all afternoon,” Richardson said.

“We started both halves reasonably well but didn’t get into the flow we would have liked.

“You have to take into consideration that we haven’t played a league game since December 18, though, and Doncaster are in a position where they don’t want to be, so they’re working hard.

“I was waiting for our players to take control of the game, but it was a bit of a bitty match and there wasn’t much free-flowing football.”

Wigan are four points off first place and have five games in hand – and it could have been more had a morning pitch inspection at the Eco-Power Stadium not gone their way.

Richardson said: “It was really important for us for it to be on as we need to get games played because we have no more room in our calendar.”

Doncaster boss Gary McSheffrey, who had demanded a greater work ethic from his side after their disappointing defeats to relegation rivals Morecambe and Fleetwood, was pleased to see an improvement against the Latics.

Rovers turned in a much more spirited and battling performance but the defeat left them 10 points from safety.

McSheffrey said: “Last week against Fleetwood, our highest runner was 10.7 kilometres and I made it clear to them this week that isn’t good enough. That wouldn’t win you games in the National League.

“The best teams run the most and they’ve got decent end product when they get in good areas.

“We put it on a few of them this week and told them their running stats weren’t good enough.

“We nailed them on that and I think we’ll see some of the highest running stats this season.

“It was a big improvement on the workrate, the fitness levels and the desire to compete.

“Set pieces were massive and it’s disappointing to concede from a set play after not a bad start. Wigan scored at key times and you can see they’ve got experienced pros with their game management.”