Five things we learned from Fleetwood (h)

1 Close but no cigar. Once again, Latics lacked nothing in terms of effort and endeavour, grit and determination. But after smashing in seven goals in their last two matches, they unfortunately drew a blank against a side without a win in six and having lost all three since Joey Barton left. The loss of talisman Will Keane, who has been self-isolating in line with government guidance, could well have been the difference between one point and three. He's become that important to the side in such a short space of time.

2 Strong case for the defence! Considering three of the Latics back four had played one game in total between them for the club prior to Saturday, the performance was absolutely incredible. Tenday Darikwa had already shown on debut at Rochdale that, despite not having played for 18 months, class is permanent. And on first impressions, both George Johnston and Corey Whelan could have plenty to offer in the second half of the campaign. Given left-back Tom Pearce is arguably their player of the season so far, Latics have a platform from which they can hopefully build some real stability.

3 Teamwork - on and off the pitch! Speaking of the impressive centre-backs on debut, a huge pat on the back to club secretary Sarah Guilfoyle and the rest of the football admin department for making that possible. Both Johnston and Whelan needed international clearance to feature because - despite being north west lads - they had most recently played in Holland the America respectively. Indeed, the paperwork for one of them was 'touch and go' in the hours before kick-off, until the green light arrived, thanks to round-the-clock efforts from the Latics staff and their counterparts at the FA. Great work - all round.

4 Not on the cards. Saturday was only referee Declan Bourne's fifth League One game, in his first season as an EFL official. Other than his inexperience, there was surely no other explanation for failing to card Fleetwood striker Kyle Vassell for almost cutting Chris Merrie in half early doors...a challenge for which some officials would have brandished red. It wasn't even the last overzealous challenge in the game from Vassell, yet Bourne failed to issue a single to caution to either side. Even more baffling - going back to the stats - is his record of having shown 150 yellows and four reds in his 50 senior games to date. Perhaps he left his cards in the changing room before the game...

5 Life's a pitch. First things first: This is in no way a criticism of the groundstaff, who have worked as hard as any department at the club despite the ridiculous restrictions placed on them in recent months. Something Leam Richardson was very clear to point out after the game on Saturday. But the reduction in staffing numbers, and the surface not being treated to its annual maintenance work, is undoubtedly taking a heavy toll. Of course, a deluge of rainfall in recent days hasn't helped - and it's far from the only pitch to be affected up and down the country. But with the Warriors still to come into the equation, the situation could get worse before it gets better - something the new owners will surely be keen to help out with if/when they eventually arrive.

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