We must raise the bar, admits Wigan Athletic star

Despite seeing their festive programme derailed due to Covid, Latics remain within touching distance of the top of the table, albeit with games in hand mounting up.

And although they would take over leadership of the division if they win their catch-up fixtures, Power insists they must find an extra gear to continue their promotion push.

“We’ve had a solid start, a good start to the season,” he said. “You know me, I never like us to get ahead of ourselves, and start claiming we’re this or we’re that.

“It’s always important you let your football do the talking. But going into the second half of the season, if we can replicate our form so far, we’ll give ourselves a chance.

“Having said that, I think we’ll probably have to better what we’ve shown so far to make sure.

“You only have to look at how tight the division is...probably everyone in the top eight will think they have a chance of not just winning promotion, but winning the division.

“It’s really competitive, there’s some really good teams and really good players. So we know we have to keep our standards up and, if possible, raise them anyway we can.”

Power is certainly qualified to comment, having won a League One title winners’ medal under Gary Caldwell in 2016 and Paul Cook in 2018.

“I think the main difference is, in previous years, you’ve maybe had a couple of teams breaking away from the rest,” assessed the midfielder, who spent three years at Sunderland before returning to the DW over the summer.

“But this time it’s just a big group, all with competitive squads with some big names in there.

“As we know, though, big names and big fanbases don’t win you points.

“Obviously I had three years at Sunderland, and we sort of hit the post three times.

“One year was cancelled due to Covid, but we couldn’t quite get over the line, which showed to me how competitive it is.

“This year, again, Sunderland are having a good campaign, but they’ll be seven or eight other clubs feeling the same.

“Every point is vital and, as we’ve seen last year, no-one knows what may or may not happen with the rest of the season.

“Obviously we all hope the season can be played to a conclusion, that everyone stays safe, and it should be a good race...and hopefully we’ll be there when it counts.”

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