Confident Wigan Athletic in 'decent form' ahead of Cardiff trip

Latics head to south Wales having not really made the most of successive home games in the last week, picking up only a single point from the visits of Preston and Middlesbrough.

Prior to that, Latics had won back-to-back games against Sheffield Wednesday and Leeds.

But Naismith feels the nature of the midweek draw against Boro – when Latics fought back after Chey Dunkley’s red card to force a late equaliser – has given them a boost.

“We take the lead, we maybe could go 2-0 up, we’re pretty comfortable...then two decisions go against us,” he told the Wigan Post.

“Kieffer (Moore) is then in, and for some reason the referee thinks he’s running away from goal – and doesn’t send off their defender... I do not know why he would think

that.

“Then, up the other end, it’s a red for Chey (Dunkley)...and then they score from the free-kick, which was a real sucker punch.

“Then they score again, with a man advantage, but I thought we showed a lot of character to hang in there.

“It would have been easy for us to lose by three or four, but we managed to get the goal before the end I feel we deserved.

“We’d have been really sore to have come away with nothing, and we’ll take the point in the circumstances.

“Maybe come the end of the season this could be a massive point in what we’re trying to achieve.”

The seven-point return from the last four matches would be more than enough to keep Latics up, if replicated over the last 14 matches.

And Naismith says spirits will be high heading into the Cardiff clash, despite the Welsh side being in fine form and only lying two points off a play-off berth.

“We know we’re in decent form and we’ll go there with confidence,” added the 27-year-old, who played left-back against Middlesbrough after a sustained run in the side at centre-half.

“Preston was a bad day, but we could easily have picked up three wins from the last four matches.

“Instead, we’re unbeaten in three of the last four, and that’s still not bad form.”