Wigan Athletic 3 Barnsley 2

Nick Powell rose off the bench to score an incredible 11-minute hat-trick to see off Barnsley and ensure Wigan Athletic's hopes of the greatest of all '˜Great Escapes' remains a real possibility.
Nick PowellNick Powell
Nick Powell

Latics had looked dead and buried after goals from Adam Armstrong and Ryan Kent had given the Tykes a fully-deserved tywo-goal advantage on the hour mark.

But Powell - the stoppage-time hero of the weekend win over Rotherham - continued his apparent one-man quest to keep Latics up.

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First he unleashed a swerving free-kick within seven minutes of his 65th-minute arrival off the bench that goalkeeper Adam Davies could only get fingertips to, before reacting first to the loose ball within a minute after Ryan Colclough had seen a shot parried out.

After Max Power hot the bar with a fine effort, Powell’s hat-trick duly arrived with eight minutes remaining, when Tykes defender Angus MacDonald was penalised for tugging Powell in the box.

The ex-Manchester United man placed the ball himself, before smashing it down the centre of the goal - to almost take the roof off the DW Stadium.

Latics are now only four points adrift of safety ahead of the Good Friday action, but with real momentum and belief that the ‘impossible’ may just be possible.