Wigan Athletic boss reacts to victory over Blackburn Rovers

Leam Richardson hailed the Wigan Athletic supporters for being his side’s 12th Man in the huge victory over Blackburn Rovers.
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The Latics boss made a point of going over to the East Stand before kick-off to rally the more vocal end of the fanbase.

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REPORT: Wigan Athletic 1 Blackburn Rovers 0

What followed was the best atmosphere of the season at the DW, which led to arguably the best team performance, and a first home win in more than six months.

Leam Richardson rallies the fans before the victory over BlackburnLeam Richardson rallies the fans before the victory over Blackburn
Leam Richardson rallies the fans before the victory over Blackburn
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On-loan Everton forward Nathan Broadhead’s 62nd-minute goal was the difference between the two sides, and enough to send Latics back up to ninth in the table ahead of Saturday’s trip to Sunderland.

"It's a gesture I believe in, and I think it's important to acknowledge supporters spending their hard-earned money to come and watch their team,” said Richardson.

"After the game there's always a lot of emotion, but before the game I know our fans always get behind the players.

"We know ourselves, at some point we never thought these nights would come again.

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"It was only not so long ago we found ourselves in a dark place, and I think sometimes it's easy to forget that.

"We've come on leaps and bounds as a football club, and we find ourselves at a really good level now.

"Under the lights, local derby, midweek, both sets of fans were up for it, and that meant both sets of players were as well.

"We feed off the fans, and the fans feed off us, it's a real collective effort here.

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"You always try to be competitive in every game, and tonight was no different.

"I thought we did the basics a lot better than we have in recent games.

"At this level, if you don't do all the basics right, you tend to fall away in terms of the result.

"I thought that was the only difference tonight, and maybe that result was on the back of the output we had at Hull and against Cardiff.

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"We'll certainly enjoy tonight, but attention always has to switch to the next game, because there's always another one just around the corner."

Latics were right at it from the first whistle, with Tom Naylor – one of three changes to the starting XI – heading wide and the firing just off target.

Broadhead – another to step up from the bench – and Will Keane also forced good stops from Rovers goalkeeper Thomas Kavinski.

At the other end, Ben Brereton-Diaz fired wide from Rovers’ only sight at goal in the first period.

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The visitors made a double substitution at the break and sent on a third new-boy shortly after the restart.

But Latics remained on top and took a deserved lead on 62 minutes.

Keane dispossessed Tyler Morton in the box, only for his dinked effort to be parried by Kavinski.

Thankfully, the ball fell to Broadhead, who stabbed home from six yards.

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Broadhead then have way to Thelo Aasgaard, who immediately headed over from a Tendayi Darikwa cross.

Darikwa himself then fired wide, with Brereton-Diaz again unable to hit the target when unmarked at the far post.

But Latics held on in the closing stages and four minutes of added time, with Ben Amos not having to make a save of any note during the whole game.