Away with this awful record, orders Wigan Athletic boss

Latics travel up to Humberside having won only once in the last 12 months – the backs-to-the-wall 2-1 triumph at Leeds on Good Friday with 10 men.

Despite coming close on a number of occasions, Latics have been unable to replicate their home form, which has been very good over the same period.

And the Latics boss has revealed it has become a mental problem to overcome.

When asked whether there was now a psychological barrier, Cook replied: “It has to be there – it has to be.

“We’ve had 14 months of watching us being great at home and crap away!

“I don’t know what people want me to say, or talk about psychology.

“What I can say, and what I do know, is we can’t be any more positive going to Hull this weekend.

“We are not going there to sit back, sit off and defend for 90 minutes.

“We are not going to let our supporters sit there and watch us play like we did at QPR (last month). We just have to keep going.

“We won at Leeds last season, we should have won at Birmingham, we should have won at Reading.

“You’ve got the hard luck stories, and we’re sick and tired of them.

“The reality is a win this weekend takes us two points clear of Hull.

“There’s no more incentive than that.”

The clash will see Leonardo Da Silva Lopes facing his former club, just weeks after joining the Tigers on transfer deadline day.

The utility man endured a miserable year with Latics – after joining from Peterborough last summer for a seven-figure amount – which saw him loaned out to Gillingham in January.

However, he’s made a strong start to his Hull career, and Cook said: “Leo’s a good player, who was denied those kind of opportunities here.

“It’s great to see him get a move to another club in the Championship and show everyone what he’s all about.

“He’s a fantastic young man and we’ve all got great fondness for him as a lad.

“Hopefully if he starts this weekend he won’t play so well, but we still wish him well.”

Latics goalkeeper David Marshall will also be facing his former club, but Cook denied he would be bending the ear of the Scotland international for the inside track.

He added: “We always speak to players about things like that, but there’s a new manager there now with his own ideas.”