Joyce: It will take everything we've got

Latics travel to Blackburn this weekend for a massive six-pointer at the foot of the Championship, hoping to arrest a slump that’s seen them win only once in the last seven matches.

“We’ll give it everything we’ve got, and that’s all the players can do – and they have done that over a 
sustained period,” said Joyce.

“You cannot fault the effort and endeavour of the players.

“The quality is sometimes not there, partly down to tiredness, and that’s defined what we’ve been doing.

“Everyone wants to hit the quality pass or the quality finish, and you’ve always got the opposition trying to stop you as well.

“Scoring goals is the hardest thing to do in the game.

“I don’t think it’s because we’ve not had chances - it’s because we’ve not been taking them.

“Hopefully with no midweek game we’ll be a bit fresher after the slog we’ve been on.”