What The Bosses Said - Latics 2-1 PNE

Following last night`s Carling Cup game at the DW Stadium that saw Wigan Athletic beat Preston North End 2-1, both bosses spoke to the media about the game, let`s see what they had to say:

Latics boss Roberto Martinez:

'The second half was a very good exercise for ourselves because we had to think a lot and ask a few questions of a resolute Preston side.

'We started the game as a group of individuals with not the right attitude, and we finished it with a real impetus and momentum, and looking a very good team.

'It's never easy when you go 1-0 down in the cup, because you push forward and the opposition can hit you on the counter.

'We all know that in football that when you don't do the basics right, you get punished.

'Their goal was a clear reflection of that, when our wall dismantled and allowed their free-kick to get through.

'We started the game in such a slow tempo, and probably didn't give the occasion the approach it deserved.

'But in situations like this you see the reactions of individuals as men and as a team, and we were really together at the end and managed to find the solutions.

'Credit to Preston - they defended very well but I felt that we controlled the game really well in the second half and we thoroughly deserved the win.'

'Making six changes doesn't mean anything now. Everyone knew exactly what was required of them and the concepts we were trying to get across'

'It's too early to say exactly what's wrong with Hendry (Thomas), but he has a nasty little cut on the inside of his shin which has swelled up quite badly.

'There were three what I thought were dangerous challenges on our players in the second half, and we need to assess Franco (Di Santo) and Ronnie (Stam) as well.

'Franco got a nasty kick on his ankle and he was not feeling too good after the game, and Ronnie had very lucky escape from another bad tackle.

'But Hendry is the one we are probably feeling most concerned about and we'll be assessing him on Thursday.'



Preston boss Darren Ferguson:

"It was a bit of a case of deja-vu I think.

"Individual mistakes cost us the game, I couldn`t see any other way of Wigan getting through us.

"They huffed and puffed, had one or two chances as you would expect them to have.

"But they were awful goals to give away.

"Andrew Lonergan got beaten on his near post for the first goal, then all Danny Mayor had to do for the second was bring down their lad.

"He would have had to take a booking, but it would have been one for the team.

"I`m not looking for excuses but we just aren`t having any luck at the moment.

"Paul Coutts hit the post and bar, had either of those gone in it would have been game over.

"Again we have lost a game late on.

"People will probably be accusing us of not being fit enough, but I`d say that is nonsense. One thing I will say is that we didn`t keep the ball well enough in the last 20 minutes, we needed more composure when Wigan had possession.

"Even though we came under a lot of pressure late on, I`d still expect us to win the game when you get to 87 minutes at 1-0.

"But we haven`t, the second goal was so naive from our point of view."



















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