Lincoln 'lucky' to beat Wigan Athletic, admits Imps boss

Thelo Aasgaard can't believe Latics haven't scored against Lincoln

And the Imps boss was full of admiration for a Latics side 'fighting for their lives' at the wrong end of League One.

"We rode our luck a little bit at the end, and the reality is sometimes you have to," acknowledged Appleton, who saw Callum Lang give Latics the lead before Anthony Scully and Tom Hopper secured the point for the league leaders.

"They're fighting for their lives and they're going to throw everything at it.

"I've been in that situation before, and once you go ahead, you want to stay on the front foot and keep attacking.

"But the reality is your mentality switches to wanting to keep hold of what you've got, and it's very difficult to shift away from that mindset.

"We knew we'd have to defend some crosses, and there's some heavy legs in there at the end.

"But we had some big performances down the spine of the team and, with the bravery that was on display, you almost earn every bit of luck that comes your way."

It was eerily similar to the corresponding fixture at Sincil Bank back in December, when Latics took the lead but couldn't hold on and Lincoln won by the odd goal in three.

"It was a difficult game for us," added Apppleton. "The conditions certainly didn't suit how we want to go about our business.

"The pitch was a poor onew, and I thought we dealt with that and the swirling wind really well.

"To come back from going a goal behind to an incredible strike from Callum Lang in the way we did, was very positive.

"You could see the players wanted to get the ball back to the middle as quickly as possible to do something about it.

"We were very positive right from the kick-off, and once we got into their half of the field, we got the ball into their box and caused a bit of havoc.

"The one thing you know you're getting with Scully is every time there's a ball into the box, he's there on the front foot.

"He's hoping there's a mistake, he's hoping the goalkeeper's going to spill the ball, and he's done that a few times this season."

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