Leam Richardson praises hard work of Callum Lang as Wigan fight back for win

Posted Wednesday, February 23, 2022 by PA

Wigan manager Leam Richardson believes Callum Lang is benefitting from having to plug away earlier in his career after his two goals earned a 3-1 victory at Wycombe.

Lang struck twice in the last 12 minutes at Adams Park, as the Latics remained second in League One and three points clear of MK Dons, as they recovered superbly from falling behind in the first half.

The brace took Lang up to 15 goals in a season where the 23-year-old has finally been able to establish himself in Wigan’s first team, following four loan spells away from the club.

Richardson said: “The academy take full credit for the likes of Callum and Thelo [Aasgaard] and the likes of them have great habits off the pitch.

“They’re good people, for a start, and people who work hard normally get their just rewards.

“Callum’s been out on loan, he’s learned his trade and I’ve worked with him from the middle of last year and he takes in information really well.

“It’s no coincidence that certain players find the areas and that extra little bit of space regularly and Callum is one of them. He’s learning the game really well at the minute.”

On his team’s comeback, Richardson said: “We knew our challenge, but I thought we imposed ourselves.

“We grew into the game, especially in the second half, and when the chances came, we took them.”

Wycombe went ahead after 22 minutes when Sullay Kaikai found the net from just outside the box, but Wigan equalised after some concerted pressure when Tom Naylor followed up Max Power’s free-kick to head in.

Lang completed the turnaround with two goals in four minutes, first turning in James McClean’s corner from close range before he settled the result with a fine finish across goal.

Wycombe are now outside of the play-off places and boss Gareth Ainsworth was impressed by Wigan.

He said: “We played worse teams in the Championship last year, they’re a good side.

“They’re a big club, Wigan, with the history they’ve had, and they’ve sorted themselves out with all their problems.

“They’ve got a good team together there, with the likes of McClean and [Will] Keane – they’ve got ex-Premier League players there and I’m not disappointed as much as I was on Saturday about tonight.

“We knew this was going to be tough.

“We played really well in the first half and I thought we held them at bay really well.

“It was two set-pieces that, really, we have to defend those better.

“We’ve not given any [goals] from set-pieces lately and it’s almost like we gifted a couple of goals there for them.

“They put the deliveries in well, but we’ve got to defend those better as a team.”