Davies ready to start over

The 30-year-old Wales international has endured a largely frustrating time since joining Latics in the summer of 2015.

His late equaliser against Birmingham in August was his only goal of this season so far, having notched just two in last season’s League One title-winning campaign.

There were options for him to move on over the summer, but Davies elected to stay put and try to prove why then-boss Gary Caldwell was so keen to bring him to the club.

Caldwell, of course, has since given way to Warren Joyce, who chose to bring Davies off the bench at Barnsley on Saturday in preference to fellow attacking options Will Grigg and Adam Le Fondre.

And with the prospect of a ‘clean slate’ under a different manager, Davies is hoping for a new lease of life.

“I still feel like I’ve got a lot to offer this football club,” he told the Evening Post.

“I didn’t feature too much under the previous manager, but I’ve tried to keep my head down and hopefully in time I will get the chance to prove what I’m really about.

“Everyone starts with a clean slate under a new manager, which is good.

“It’s like starting school all over again – everyone starts from the same point and everyone gets a chance.”

Davies certainly knew his way around Oakwell, having scored 20 goals in 64 games during a prolific spell with the Tykes between 2011-13.

And he used his big frame to good effect at both ends of the park to ensure Latics held on for a decent point.

“It was all right to get a battling point,” Davies added. “Obviously after the Reading game, which we were all disappointed with, we wanted to bounce back.

“We knew it would be a tough game, they’ve been in good form since the turn of the year, so it was good to go there and get a point.

“The important thing now is to try and build on that for Huddersfield next Monday.

“We’ve got nine days to prepare for that, and it’s been back to the training ground and the drawing board.

“We’re still finding out about the way the gaffer wants us to play, and it’s about applying that as much as we can.”

Latics are still waiting to learn how long they’ll be without Nick Powell, after the ex-Manchester United man pulled up lame on his return from a hamstring problem after half-an-hour at Oakwell.

On-loan goalkeeper Adam Bogdan has returned to Liverpool after suffering knee ligament damage on Saturday, which has ended his DW stint.