Perfect day...now let's make it a perfect season - Wigan Athletic boss

Paul Cook reflected on '˜a perfect day' at Fleetwood after guiding Wigan Athletic back into the Championship during his first season at the DW Stadium.
Paul Cook is joined on the pitch by chairman David Sharpe and owner Dave WhelanPaul Cook is joined on the pitch by chairman David Sharpe and owner Dave Whelan
Paul Cook is joined on the pitch by chairman David Sharpe and owner Dave Whelan

And he challenged his promotion-winning side to go on and make it ‘a perfect season’ by securing the League One title!

Saturday’s 4-0 victory at Fleetwood - coupled with Shrewsbury’s failure to beat rock-bottom Bury at home - means Latics will be back in the second tier next term.

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And Cook was in buoyant mood after securing promotion from League One, just 12 months after leading Portsmouth to top spot in League Two.

“It was just a perfect day wasn’t it?” the Latics boss beamed.

“You turn up, you know everything about the day, what it means.

“At this stage of the season, there’s so much promotions and relegations being decided, and today was time for us to play our part.

“And boy did our lads play their part today.

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“It was probably one of the most impressive performances we’ve had, we controlled the game, the travelling support was great.

“I just can’t speak highly enough of the players and my staff.

“There’s still three games to go, and there’s still time for us to make sure we look back on this as the perfect season.

“You look back on the FA Cup quarter-final defeat to Southampton, which was disappointing.

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“But if we’d won, we wouldn’t have been getting promoted today.

“And this feels pretty good to me.”

Goals from Max Power and Gavin Massey put Latics in control at the break, with further goals from centre-backs Dan Burn and Chey Dunkley being added in the second half.

“The record speaks for itself,” Cook said.

“You only need to look at the goals scored, the goals conceded, the clean sheets...it’s all us.”

The likeable Liverpudlian also admitted Latics had been inspired to secure a top-two spot in the division by comments from their main rivals which he feels were a tad disrespectful.

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“Blackburn, in my opinion, got a little bit ahead of themselves when we had games in hand on everyone,” Cook remarked.

“Some of the comments coming out were, in my opinion, very poor, about how we were going to fatigue, and tire.

“We’re the first team to be promoted and we also reached the quarter-final of the FA Cup.”

Cook also dedicated the win to the 100 Latics fans who walked to to the game from Wigan over Friday and Saturday, raising over £28,000 - as it stands now - for the Joseph’s Goal charity.

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“The support for Joseph, and his family, and the charity, is amazing,” Cook acknowledged.

“They keep telling me little Joseph’s a lucky mascot for this club,

“I think he’s a little bit more than that...I think he’s going to be on the payroll very soon!

“Great credit to all the fans who did the walk, and I’m sure if they had to walk home they would do after seeing us get promoted.”