Secret behind Wigan Athletic goal hero taking centre stage

The on-loan Plymouth Argyle midfielder found himself at the heart of almost everything Latics put together in the final third at St James Park.

Not only did he pop up with his second goal in the space of a week - and his third of the season - he also forced three saves from home goalkeeper Joe Whitworth.

It wasn't enough to help the visitors to pick up three points on the south coast, but Lowe was delighted with Wright's individual display.

"It was a brilliant goal, and we worked with him yesterday on it," said Lowe of his fellow Liverpudlian.

"We only had a small amount of time, we trained on the way down, and we told him those are the runs we want from him.

"It was a good ball in from Foxy (Morgan Fox), and he did the same on another couple of occasions when he could have scored again but for their goalkeeper.

"He's their man of the match...he's made some good saves...but we've also allowed him to make those good saves as well.

"On another day, he could have had a hat-trick, but it was a superbly taken goal."

Lowe felt Latics did more than enough to have picked up all three points, but praised opponents Exeter for the way they fought back to earn a 1-1 draw.

"They were very good in the second half, they changed shape a little bit, they brought a couple of players on, and got at us down our left-hand side,” added Lowe.

"We had to adapt to that, which we did pretty well, but they are well coached, well drilled, Gary (Caldwell) has done a good job and we had to put our bodies on the line."

The result leaves Latics in 16th place in League One, with 18 points from their 15 matches played.

Lowe’s men are three points clear of the drop zone, but only seven adrift of the play-offs.

Latics don’t have a game this weekend, after Reading – under new boss Leam Richardson – elected to call off their scheduled visit to the Brick due to international call-ups.