Wigan Athletic boss makes 'games in hand' claim

Saturday's 3-2 victory over Gillingham saw Latics return to the summit for the first time in two-and-a-half months.

Their position will become even stronger if they can make the most of their catch-up fixtures.

Richardson, though, is not reading too much into what may or may not happen.

“We’ve still got to play the games and win them for them to mean anything,” he said.

“You’re not guaranteed to be anywhere unless you get those points on the board.

“If the season finished today, we’d be made up – but it doesn’t, so we won’t read anything into that.

“The focus remains the same – we just want to remain competitive throughout the season. That was the mindset at the start of the season, and it’ll never change.

“You don’t get anything in January or February. Hopefully we’ll be in the same position in April and May.

“We know we’ve got some tough opponents coming up, and we’ll take each game on its own merit.

“For the last two years at this football club, it’s been about taking each day at a time and not worrying about tomorrow.

"If you start looking too far ahead, you give yourself a headache.”

After being frustrated in their attempts to fulfill fixtures over the festive period, and then rearrange any of the missed games earlier this month, Latics have been able to add the visit of Fleetwood and the trip to Crewe into their March schedule.

But with no guarantee of further games not being called off, Richardson is still unhappy with the lack of help Latics have received from outside.

“We’re still in two cup competitions, Covid’s not going away, and there’s now a worry over frozen pitches,” he said. “That’s why the other week we were so desperate to get a game on.

“It’s still beyond me why we couldn’t do that, I really struggle with why we couldn’t. I’ve still not been given a reason – I’m sure there is one.

"But that’s gone, and it’s up to us now to take whatever’s thrown at us in our stride.”

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