Wigan Athletic boss makes admission after Notts County triumph - 'Can we be better?'

Latics looked every bit a division above their opponents during the first half, and deservedly led through Paul Mullin's 10th-minute penalty, after Maleace Asamoah Jnr was tripped in the box.

However, the home side failed to add to their total, and were left hanging on after the break.

Goalkeeper Sam Tickle made three fine saves to keep out County, who also hit the post through substitute Matty Dennis.

All of which left Lowe - who saw on-loan Liverpool defender Isaac Mabaya stretchered off on the half-hour mark - happy to be in the hat for the second round.

"It was definitely a game of two halves," he said. "We're obviously pleased to be into the second round, however way you get there, you get there.

"I didn't like the last 20 minutes, we were a little bit all over the place, we lacked calmness, people were trying to kill the game off when we didn't need to, as we were already winning.

"But there's loads of good stuff that's come out of it...in terms of young Leo Graham making his professional debut for the football club, Tobias playing well as a '4', getting minutes into Callum Wright and Ryan Trevitt and Luke Robinson.

"So there's loads of positives to come out of it, although sometimes in football it doesn;t always look pretty, and in fairness to Notts County I thought they played very well.

"I thought they probably deserved a little bit more from the game, and I said that to their manager after the game.

"They play a nice brand of football and they had some good opportunities, but on the flip side I thought our lads were very solid.

"It might not have looked nice and pretty, but at least they put their bodies on the line and got about and were brave and aggressive, which is definitely pleasing.

"At the end it was like attack against defence for about 20 minutes, we gave the ball away in one position and we never got it back.

"Credit to them, but also credit to us, because we saw it out, and I can't be too disappointed with that.

"Can we be better? Of course we can. But it's not just going to happen overnight, this is a long-term project.

"Northampton on the opening day was excellent, Leyton Orient wasn't great, and this was just 'okay'.

"There's going to be ups and downs throughout the season, but if they keep listening and keep learning, we’ll become a good team.”

After Mullin’s early opener, Asamoah in particular was causing the visiting defence all kinds of problems with his pace, although a second goal proved elusive.

And the second half was a completely different story, as County upped their game.

Kellan Gordon raced into the box and was only denied by a fine save by Tickle, who then had to get down quickly to thwart Tom Iorpenda.

When Dennis did beat the diving Tickle, he saw his low drive come back off the far post.

But the Latics custodian saved his best until three minutes to go to deny Jayden Luker, which sealed victory.