Wigan fall back into relegation zone after surrendering lead at Accrington Stanley
- Wigan took the lead after 40 seconds but poor defending sees Stanley win 3-1
- Latics boss Leam Richardson dissapointed with his sides performance
- Result sees Wigan back in the bottom four as relegation battle intesfies
Wigan returned to the relegation places after a 3-1 defeat to play off chasing Accrington Stanley.
Wigan took the lead after 40 seconds when Dan Gardner found Callum Lang, who raced forward, rounded the goalkeeper and slotted home his seventh League One goal since being recalled from Motherwell in January.
However Stanley, who had lost their last three games, replied instantly in the third minute when Cameron Burgess was left unmarked to head home a Sean McConville free-kick.
Both sides then had chances in what a was frantic start to the game, Lang fired narrowly off-target whilst McConville hit the crossbar with a 20-yard volley.
Stanley took the lead after 15th minutes as Wigan’s marking once again left a lot to be desired, Michael Nottingham was given space to force home a Sean McConville free-kick, Nottingham’s effort went in off the post despite the best efforts of Jamie Jones trying to scramble the ball off the line.
Accrington pulled further ahead in the 61st minute after McConville was fouled in the area by Tendayi Darikwa and Dion Charles slotted home the penalty.
The victory leaves Stanley three points outside the top six whilst the defeat for Wigan sees them fall to 21st place and back in the bottom four.
Nice comments from Accy boss…but always easy after a win I suppose…would much sooner him have been angry/bitter… #wafchttps://t.co/BYsUQW6ehE
— Paul Kendrick (@PKendrickWIG) March 20, 2021
Wigan boss Leam Richardson was left disappointed after his side lost at the Crown Ground.
Reflecting post-match on the game Richardson said: “It’s very disappointing and I’m disappointed in the fact you knew what was coming, you prepare for what’s coming and then you succumb to that.
“We got beat today by two balls into our box with no contact, no endeavour and we lost nine or ten battles on the pitch and that’s why we lost.
“This is the first time I think the lads have dipped below the standards they set as the group that they are. It will be the first time today they’ll be as frustrated as we are having lost individual battles and that certainly won’t happen again.”
It was the second time in a week that Wigan threw away a lead. The Latics drew 1-1 with AFC Wimbledon at Plough Lane last week.
Jamie Proctor scored the opener for Wigan against the run of play before George Dobson deservedly drew the Dons level 11 minutes from time.
Wigan’s next game is at home to Ipswich on Saturday (27 March), it will be the first time that new Ipswich boss Paul Cook has returned to the DW stadium after leaving Wigan in July 2020.