Why Wigan Athletic chief will have no excuses for not doing his Stockport County homework

The Scot took the opportunity of watching the Hatters lose 1-0 at Bradford City on Tuesday night, before guiding Latics to a vital victory over Luton Town 24 hours later.

Having spent the last three and a half years on the south coast at Exeter City, he admits the chance to watch a divisional rival in the flesh was a novelty!

"I went to watch Stockport on Tuesday night, and it's great to be back in the north west," said Caldwell.

"It means I can get out to watch games...I don't think I ever managed to get out and watch a game from Exeter!

"I went straight from training to watch them last night, and the preparation started in that regard before the Luton game."

Caldwell and assistant David Perkins – who also moved up from Exeter, along with analyst Lauren Jones - had only a couple of days to work with the squad ahead of the Luton game.

With such a lift in performance levels despite such a short space of time, Caldwell is hopeful of even more once the squad gets fully up to speed with his methods.

"We have to look at ourselves, we have to build momentum, we have to bring consistency to our game, and that starts on the training ground," he said.

"Obviously there's not a lot of time before Saturday, but after that there's a couple of Saturday/Saturday games after that, where we can get a lot of work into the players.

"It's been a great start, but it's only that - a start. And we know we have a long, long way to go.

"I felt it would be big if we could win early and build some momentum, because the players need confidence, and belief, which they can now build on into the next game.

"They're obviously going to be low on confidence, it's natural when you've not been winning games.

"They need some guidance and understanding of how to get back to the level that I think they can all get to.

"While we weren't quite there in terms of the level I think they can show, they were there in spirit and determination and behaviour and commitment to win a game.

"Now we have to add bits as we go, and create consistency in our training and behaviour...and if we can do that, this team has shown it can win games at this level."

This weekend’s game will be the FOURTH time Latics and Stockport have faced each other already this season.

The corresponding fixture at the Brick Community Stadium back in August ended 1-1, four days after Latics had sneaked a 1-0 victory in the Carabao Cup.

Latics then drew 0-0 at Edgeley Park in the group stage of the Vertu Trophy in November, with County winning the bonus point thanks to a 6-5 penalty shoot-out success.