‘It was a great win’ – Slaven Bilic’s Watford leave it late to beat Wigan

Slaven Bilic reflected on a “great three points” as Watford won 1-0 at Sky Bet Championship strugglers Wigan thanks to Joao Pedro’s 87th-minute header.

The Hornets had to withstand a determined early onslaught from Wigan, who hit a post through Will Keane inside 10 minutes.

But as the game went on the visitors gradually took over, with only a great save from Wigan goalkeeper Jamie Jones and a phenomenal block denying Ismaila Sarr in either half.

Watford finally broke the deadlock with three minutes to go when Pedro headed home substitute Yaser Asprilla’s delivery and they held on to win despite Jack Whatmough hitting the crossbar in the seventh added minute.

And Bilic was a happy man at a second win on the bounce.

“It was a great win, a great three points for us,” he said.

“We were good, we were solid, we limited them to set-pieces, corners, throw-ins, long balls.

“The problem is the game lasts 90 minutes, so you don’t have to defend a couple of them, you have to defend 15 or 20. And they are very good with them, so we had to stay switched on throughout.

“The clean sheet is not a coincidence, that’s two in a row, and it brings extra confidence to the team.

“Some of the decision making wasn’t great, but we wanted to win, that’s why we made the attacking changes.

“We didn’t create a lot, but we pinned them back in the last 15 minutes and it was more us pushing to win the game.

“From that, they get tired, you then get a corner, and you get a reward with a good header from a fine player.”

For Wigan boss Leam Richardson, it was not the way he wanted to celebrate his new three-year contract.

“It’s frustrating for sure,” he said. “Could the lads have given us any more? Possibly not.

“But the last two games have been decided by big moments from set-pieces in both boxes.

“We could have had six points, we should have had at least two points, and we’ve come away with nothing.

“That’s despite the performance levels being very high, and we’re under no illusions about the task we’re up against.

“Again today, it’s a Premier League, international quality manager, with 15 or 16 players who were playing in the Premier League last year.

“I thought we took them on and went toe to toe for the vast majority of the game, but one of theirs pops his chance in and we hit the post and the bar.

“I don’t think we just battled well today, I thought we played well too.

“We know where our fight is, and where our fight will be. We look back 15-16 months to the opening day of last season at Sunderland, and I’d like to think it’s been a gradual process of improvement along the way.

“I take a lot of personal pride out of that, and it is hard to criticise the players even when results aren’t going our way.

“Most of the games we’ve lost we could have drawn, and most of the games we’ve drawn we could have won.

“We have got to keep our morale, our momentum, and our beliefs, because there’s always another challenge 72 hours away.”