Gary Caldwell hopes Exeter can build on their draw at Wigan

Posted Sunday, September 29, 2024 by PA

Gary Caldwell believes Exeter’s point at Wigan will only prove to be a good or a bad one if they win their next League One fixture.

The Grecians dug deep to secure a goalless draw at the Brick Community Stadium, as Caldwell and his former Celtic and Scotland colleague Shaun Maloney had to share the spoils.

Caldwell, whose side play Leyton Orient next, said: “I think it will prove to be a positive point if we go on to win our next game on Tuesday.

“I always think when you draw a game of football, if you pick up three points in the next game it becomes a bigger point than if you lose.

“I thought we controlled the game very well. The only thing lacking was a cutting edge, we just didn’t look ourselves in possession, which can happen, but I thought both sides cancelled each other out.

“We set up slightly differently, we knew Wigan would set up aggressively, and try to press with their two centre-backs, but I thought the energy and spirit of the players was very good.

“The clean sheet is always a great starting point, we just needed to add a little bit more in possession in the final third.

“We didn’t look after the ball well enough, we still had moments in the game where we could have scored, we had a lot of set-pieces, but we couldn’t take advantage of those.”

Wigan almost won it at the death when former Exeter centre-back Will Aimson headed James Carragher’s cross towards the top corner, only for Joe Whitworth to pull off a superb save.

“Goalkeepers are there to keep the ball out of the net and – as Roy Keane would say – he’s just doing his job,” smiled Caldwell.

“It was a fantastic save, but it was probably only the fantastic save he had to make in the game. Everything else was pretty much down his throat.

“He’s been brilliant for us in terms of personality and how we can build through him, and use the quality he has with his feet.

“When he was needed, he was there for us and that’s four clean sheets in seven games, which we’re delighted with.”

For Wigan boss Maloney, it was a fourth clean sheet in a row – but a third goalless draw on the spin.

“It’s not easy to get four clean sheets in a row, and I think the whole team has to take credit for that, in terms of how aggressive we are starting with our forward players,” he said.

“Today was quite a hard game, they tried to play without a number nine, meaning our centre-backs had to be really aggressive.

“Defensively we were very good again, but obviously I want the other side as well. I think we can definitely create more chances, but we are creating chances big enough to win games.

“There’s probably frustration there that we didn’t win the game today, because we had enough chances – Silko (Thomas) in the first half, Dale (Taylor) in the second – to do so.

“But credit to their goalkeeper, he produced a brilliant save in the dying seconds to keep us out. I’d probably be more frustrated if we weren’t creating the chances, but that’s how it goes sometimes.”