Wigan Athletic boss reacts to Bristol City draw

Leam Richardson's glass was definitely half-full after Wigan Athletic's 1-1 draw against Bristol City at the DW.
Tom Naylor in action against Bristol CityTom Naylor in action against Bristol City
Tom Naylor in action against Bristol City

Latics made it three draws out of three on their return to the Championship after coming from behind to maintain their unbeaten start.

Andi Weimann gave City the lead inside six minutes, but Will Keane's equaliser midway through the second period was no more than Latics deserved.

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If any side was going to force a winner, it was Latics, and the manager was more than satisfied.

"There were a lot of pleasing things we can take from the game," he said.

"I actually thought we started very well, and the first time we left ourselves open without growing into the possession, we were punished.

"When your opponents are carrying that level of attacking threat, you're always leaving yourself open to what happened.

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"But one of the most pleasing things was we managed to come from behind to take something from the game.

"And I thought we finished both halves with the impetus to push forward and try to win the game, which was very pleasing.

"There's plenty of positives we can take - we've continued the momentum we had last season, and that's helped us stay unbeaten.

"At the same time, the lads are still learning, and we know we still need to strengthen the squad to be able to have that competition for places you always need.

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"We know that challenges are always around the corner - you only have to see the size and calibre of clubs we're welcoming here to know that.

"It's up to us to keep working hard, keep being diligent, which we are doing, and I know I'll always get that from this group."

City opened the scoring inside six minutes with top scorer Weimann slotted home at the far post.

Latics then dodged what seemed to be a fair shout for a penalty when Jason Kerr appeared to collide with Tommy Conway inside the box.

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They were fortunate again moments later when Joe Bennett and ex-Latics man Joe Williams collided on the deck, and the former lashed out at his opponent on the near side.

Thankfully for Latics, the officials - after long consultation - decided on only a yellow card.

Josh Magennis went close on three occasions before Latics had a massive shout for a penalty waved away, after a James McClean corner was headed back by Jack Whatmough into the hand of a City defender.

"I thought we could have had a penalty,” acknowledged the Latics boss, who was also unhappy with the amount of breaks in play caused by City players going to ground for treatment.

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"The officials have a very difficult job to do, but I was disappointed in the first half when we had four offsides given against us, and none of them were, they were a fair margin onside.

"I also thought the game got stopped on a number of occasions on our transition when we had possession.

"Listen, teams do what they need to do to try and win games, we do some things that we need to do to try and win games.

"Officials have a really tough job, we all know that."

The equaliser finally arrived on 68 minutes through Keane, after Tom Naylor's shot was blocked.