Wigan Athletic boss 'sick and tired' of same old story

For the umpteenth time already this term, Latics crawled out of the traps and were second best for the opening 45 minutes, and found themselves trailing 2-0 to fellow strugglers Northampton.

After the break, once again, it was a completely different story, with goals from Joe Garner (penalty) and Tom James giving them real hope.

Unfortunately, sandwiched in between was a third Cobblers goal from Caleb Chukwuemeka, which turned out to be the matchwinner.

Latics being Latics, there was still time for a desperately near miss in the closing stages, with Scotland Under-21 striker Kyle Joseph - off the bench for his league debut - striking a post.

But Sheridan saw the winless sequence extend to seven matches - with Latics slipping back into the relegation zone.

"People are probably sick and tired of me saying the same thing, and they'd be dead right," he acknowledged.

"In the first half, Dan Gardner had a great strike which needed a great save, but we didn't really deserve anything.

"We just find ourselves gifting the opposition chances to score goals, and we go in at half-time 2-0 down again.

"It's the same pattern of performance, and we need to get to the bottom of it.

"We keep starting flat, we're giving away goals, and we keep giving ourselves mountains to climb.

"I can't stand losing, it really hurts me so much. And we're on a bad, bad run."

It was always going to be a tough day at the office, with Latics without SEVEN first-teamers - Curtis Tilt, Darnell Johnson, Kal Naismith, Lee Evans, Viv Solomon-Otabor, Gavin Massey and Will Keane - through injury.

"You can see the team we put out there, we've so many injuries, and they've all come at the same time," said the Latics boss.

"The team was makeshift, very young, but I have to give them credit for the second-half performance.

"I thought we were excellent, we really took the game to them.

"I tell the young players to be brave in their decisions, and not to be afraid of making mistakes.

"But I'm looking at players in that second half that, for some reason, just weren't in the game in the first half.

"There were things we can take from that second half, though, from a young team.

"I've really enjoyed us playing in the second half for most of the games this season.

"We just need to get on the front foot a lot earlier and we'll start picking up some points."

Sheridan also reserved praise for young striker Joseph, who showed some hugely promising touches in the final quarter.

"Kyle was so unlucky to hit the post with his chance at the end," he added.

"If that's against us, that ball goes in the back of the net.

"That's just the way it's going for us, the ball hits the post and comes out."

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