Wigan Athletic boss lifts lid on 'harsh words' at half-time that helped to rescue a point at Northampton Town

Latics closed their League One campaign by extending their unbeaten run to eight matches at Sixfields, thanks to a 96th-minute equaliser from Dale Taylor.

It was no more than the visitors deserved, after a below-par first-half display in Northamptonshire, capped by Tariqe Fosu's goal - which stemmed from a Latics corner - just after the half-hour mark.

That led to the manager reading the riot act at the interval, and sending his players out early for the second period, in the hope of a reaction, which was duly delivered.

All of which left Lowe satisfied with the result - but not with the way his side had gifted Northampton a foothold in the game.

"We got it wrong...to be counter-attacked like that...that's a criminal offence in my eyes,” he said. "It's a crap goal, and we're disappointed with that, but we said to them at half-time that we needed to get the ball down and play with it a bit more.

"Listen, if the truth be known, I thought we were the better team when we started to get the ball down and play. The stats show that, the xG (expected goals) show that, they were a lot better for us than them.

"Again, though, we kept fighting all the way to the end, that's what I want, but I still need more calmness from certain players, certain individuals. I'm giving players opportunities to showcase what they've got, but there's got to be a lot of hard work as well.

"We've managed to see out the season unbeaten, it's eight games now...should there have been more wins in there, I think there should have been. But the lads again showed their fight and we deserved to come away with a point.”

Lowe also explained the thinking behind sending his players out very early before the start of the second half.

"There were some harsh words at half-time, which will be kept in-house, and they always will,” he said. "That's why they came out early for the second half, I wanted them to have a feel of the ball, get some runs in, ready for the second half.

"Because at the start of the first half, some of them might as well not have been on the pitch, which was disappointing. I don't mean that to be disrespectful, but we had 900 fans there, and the least we can do is show up.

"There were certain players who didn't show up in the first half...but in the second half, give them a bit of credit, they went out, they got on the ball and they were braver with it."

Latics were indebted to Sam Tickle for keeping them on level terms inside six minutes.

A Northampton free-kick was curled in and got a goalbound touch from the outstretched foot of Luke Robinson, only for a grounded Tickle to stick out an arm out to stop it on the line.

But the home side did take the lead on 33 minutes - which stemmed from a Latics corner.

Northampton quickly cleared the ball, and Nesta Guinnes-Walker released Fosu, who turned inside Jensen Weir before firing into the far corner past Tickle.

That was Weir's last involvement, with Jon Mellish - who was due to be on the start line for Sunday's Gateshead Marathon - replacing him before the interval.

Latics briefly threatened in the second half when skipper Jason Kerr saw a header nodded off the line by Mitch Pinnock, before Maleace Asamoah Jnr saw a deflected shot easily saved.

Kerr was able to continue only after receiving lengthy treatment for a head knock, which was partly the reason why the fourth official’s board saw 11 minutes added at the end.

And midway through the added time, James Carragher’s cross from the right took a slight deflection on its way to Taylor, who fired home from a yard to the delight of the away fans behind the goal.

There was still time for Will Aimson to receive a straight red card with literally the last kick of the campaign, as he caught the Town goalkeeper with an outstretched boot as he attempted to flick the ball home.

Latics finished the season in 15th place, with 56 points from their 46 matches played.

Only top two Birmingham City and Wrexham conceded fewer goals than Latics’ tally of 42. However, their 40 goals scored was the worst in the third tier.