Wigan Athletic 0-0 Nottingham Forest: Five talking points

The return of Alex Gilbey from injury was one positive to take from the 0-0 draw

1/ The pitch. It's been one of, if not the, main talking point(s) of this week. We'll steer clear of getting into a debate about the decision making surrounding the off-on Warriors fixture and say the bare patches didn't look any worse than last week.

Whether - if the rugby game had gone ahead as scheduled - it would have cut up massively is another issue. There's obviously been some attempts mid-week to re-seed some sections as a flock of pigeons was tucking in during the game. If anything, a slight downpour in the second half made the surface a touch slicker as Latics pushed for what would have been a decisive goal.

Is re-doing the surface completely still an option under consideration?

2/ The return of Alex Gilbey after several months was greeted with a standing ovation in some sections such is Latics' need for creativity in the final third. After such a long spell on the sidelines it was a tough ask to make a big impact on the game but Warren Joyce will be hoping Gilbey's return could provide a much-needed spark for the remainder of the season. He was agonisingly just a yard away from nodding in a last gasp winner.

3/ Latics started with two up top in Omar Bogle and Mikael Mandron and introduced Gabriel Obertan and Gilbey early in the second-half. Will Grigg entered the fray with the best part of 10 minutes to go meaning Warren Joyce experimented with all his attacking options. It reflected how crucial this match was, a draw has done Wigan no favours. But could Grigg have come on alongside Bogle instead of in place of him?

4/ If we are to pick a positive from the day it should be that the defence again looked solid, that's three clean sheets in the last four. Yes, Forest rarely threatened and, yes, there are problems at the other end, but at least the Buxton, Burn, Warnock trio is settled and isn't leaking goals.

5/ Home form. Latics started the day with the worst home record in the league and it's stating the obvious that they need to find a way, any way, to nick some points, or at least create more of an attacking threat, otherwise the slide towards relegation is inevitable. Forest were certainly there for the taking today