Wigan Athletic chief salutes overdue victory

Joe Dodoo takes the plaudits after opening his Latics scoring account

Latics breathed new life into their survival hopes with a comprehensive triumph at the DW - their first in three months - which moves them to within one point of safety.

George Johnston opened the scoring with a nice header midway through the first half.

After Harry Darling hit the post for MK Dons Callum Lang doubled the Latics lead just after the hour mark with a bullet header.

And Joe Dodoo made it 3-0 with 20 minutes left, with a tap-in after great work from Viv Solomon-Otabor.

There was still time for Scott Fraser to hit the bar for MK Dons, for whom Will Grigg endured a frustrating return to his former stomping ground.

But after several examples in recent weeks of playing well and coming away with nothing, Richardson was pleased to see his men rewarded for their efforts.

"It's a great result for the lads, and reward for how we;ll they worked out of possession," he said.

"MK Dons ask you all sorts of questions all around the pitch, everyone to a man does their job, and they can cause you problems.

"But we stuck to our task today and we thoroughly deserved to win 3-0.

"It was important we had certain lads on the pitch whose concentration levels were high and strong to defend, and then in turnover of possession it was important we had pace and the athleticism to go and hurt them in behind.

"I thought we did that very well in the first half, deserved our lead, and then got the goals to see it through in the second half.

"Leading up to half-time they obviously changed their shape, and our lads had to adjust, we did that at half-time, and I thought we comfortably won the game in the end.

"I feel we've been playing relatively well in recent weeks, while falling on the wrong side of a few results.

"Obviously the fixture list is hectic,the games keep coming thick and fast, and we've got to keep our focus for the next one.

"We've a couple of long-haulers coming up on the next two Tuesday nights, first Plymouth and then Wimbledon, and it's just something else we have to deal with - and we will do."