Next step 'out of our control' - Wigan Athletic chief

Having seen their game brought forward to midweek, Latics will sit out Friday's action, which could see them slip to the bottom of the table, as many as four points adrift of safety.

Richardson, though, remains pragmatic about the situation, preferring to focus only on the Easter Monday visit of Portsmouth.

"I'm a big believer in controlling what you can control...and dealing with things you can deal with," he said.

"Nothing that happens in the Good Friday games is within our control.

"But as soon as Monday comes around, it's all back in our control and that's where we can affect our destiny.

"We can't be relying on anyone else, and we haven't done all season.

"No-one's felt sorry for us all season - even with the restraints we've been under - so they're certainly not going to start now.

"What we will do is lick our wounds, feel the pain of the result, and make sure we refresh and re-energise over the weekend to be ready to go again in a big game for us on Monday."

Latics were unfortunate to come away from Wednesday's trip to Gillingham with nothing, but paid a high price for not converting any of their chances.

However, having been boosted earlier this week by the takeover finally going through, confidence and belief in the camp are still high.

"We'll digest Gillingham and we'll learn from it, but we know we haven't got much time," he acknowledged.

"We've eight games left now, and the challenge is still the same.

"If you look at the performances over the last couple of months...they've generally been good.

"We've just fallen on the wrong side of too many results during that time.

"That to me screams of a new squad, and a new group trying to gel together in a short space of time.

"We've made such strides for a while now but, with all due respect, we need the results to follow on from that.

"Hopefully the news on Tuesday night will help us over the last eight games.

"I couldn't be happier with the way things have turned out, for everyone connected with this great club.

"It's a new beginning for us, and we're all determined to help them make that first step on the way to where we want this club to be."

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