Wigan Athletic boss has done 'fantastically' well - PNE chief

Lowe was in charge at Plymouth this time last year, suffering a home defeat to Latics in November before being lured to Deepdale to succeed Frankie McAvoy.

And having secured a step up to the Championship via a job switch, he's looking forward to renewing acquaintances with Richardson, who earned his promotion with Latics.

"We have to respect Wigan massively for what they've done," he said.

"The manager is a great lad, he's done fantastically in his first real job.

"For them to go up as champions was really pleasing for them and what they've come through.

"We have to respect them but look after what we do.

"We have to go there full of confidence and play our football that will hopefully get us a result."

Having previously managed Bury during their well-documented cash-flow problems, Lowe knows first-hand how tough Richardson has had it at Wigan over the last two years.

"To be fair to Leam and large parts of the staff, they stayed there unpaid, and I've been there myself, fair play to them," he said.

"He got a team together, got a group of staff together who are really important to him, got the fans on side which is important to any football club and away they went.

"Here they are now back in the Championship."

While Lowe is aiming to ensure Wiga's return to the second tier starts in disappointment, he is wary of facing a newly-promoted side first up.

"Everything is important, there is no guarantee that you go to Wigan and win," he added.

"We know what we need to do, we've addressed it all week.

"We need to respect Wigan for what they've done, they've got a fantastic team with some good players, some good individuals.

"Ultimately it's about what we do, there's going to be a test but ultimately we'll know at quarter to five on Saturday.

"We want to win as many games as we can to help us consolidate in the top half of the season."