Senior players must lead us - Wigan Athletic boss

Latics have stumbled at the worst possible time in the run-in.

Tuesday night's 3-2 defeat at Portsmouth – after the visitors had led 2-0 – was their fifth game without a win.

In each of the last three outings - against Ipswich, Plymouth and Pompey - one more goal would have seen them confirm their spot in the top two.

As it is, Latics still require a point at Shrewsbury on Saturday to be mathematically sure of going up.

And Richardson wants his older heads to show the way in negotiating the final step of the way."We've got a lot of senior players at this club," he said.

"Nerves for us...it's just going to be more of the same.

"It's important now that the senior players lead.

"And it's important that as manager I lead.

"When you've been involved in campaigns that have gone to this stage, you know what it takes.

"We've put ourselves in this position because of how well we've done up to this point.

"With the same work ethic, habits and consistency, we believe we'll get to where we should be.

"When you've still got it in your own hands, it's irrelevant what other clubs are doing.

"The table shows you we've performed very well over the course of the season.

"We're in a place we deserve to be after 45 games, and we'll be where we deserve to be after 46."