Wigan Athletic: Five talking points from Burton Albion (a)

Paul Kendrick reflects on five talking points from Wigan Athletic's 0-0 draw at Burton in midweek...
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1 Is it a bird? Is it a plane? No, it was Kell Watts! Flying through the Staffordshire air to somehow divert Joe Powell's goalbound effort over the top - and save a precious point for Latics. The on-loan Newcastle defender had no business at all getting there. No business at all. But his never-say-die spirit in covering behind Ben Amos and keeping the ball out summed up everything about the Latics camp. And the backslapping in the aftermath showed just how much it meant to the rest of the team.

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2 Jase the ace! Watt's dramatic goalline clearance also made sure a similarly heroic piece of defending from Jason Kerr wasn't in vain. The big Scot looked distinctly second best when Jack Whatmough couldn't take delivery of Tom Naylor's back header, allowing Louis Moult to race clean through on goal. But an inch-perfect sliding tackle - with a penalty and possible red card on the way if he'd got it wrong - held up the attack, before Watts took centre stage. It was Kerr's seventh 90-minute run-out in a row and, after taking time to settle south of the border, he now looks every inch a permanent fixture in the backline.

Jason KerrJason Kerr
Jason Kerr
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3 A cold, wet Tuesday night... Okay, so the old 'can team X do it on a cold, wet Tuesday night' usually references Stoke but, 20 minutes down the road, Latics showed they can handle rough conditions at Burton. On a pitch that is up (down?) there with the worst in League One, with more sand than Blackpool beach, and torrential rain beating down, it was never going to be one for the purists. But the Latics players dug in when they needed to, took everything the home side had to offer, and came away with a well-deserved - and hard-earned - point.

4 Going for it! Despite a point being far from catastrophic, there was no suggestion Latics weren't trying to win the game at the Pirelli. Not many in the ground would have predicted the 73rd-minute substitution, which saw left-back Joe Bennett make way for striker Stephen Humphrys. That led to a convoluted reshuffle which saw skipper Tendayi Darikwa switch sides to left wing-back, and 17-goal Callum Lang filling in at right wing-back, for probably the first time in his career. Perhaps news of Rotherham's heavy beating at Portsmouth had filtered through, meaning effectively a free hit for Latics in the promotion picture. It almost backfired at the death with Burton's late near miss. But as they say, fortune favours the brave...and Latics had more than made their point.

5 No doubting Tom is a big plus! While Latics were unchanged for the third game in a week, there was one significant change on the bench. Tom Pearce returned to the fold after injury and, with James McClean having been all-but ruled out for the run-in, it's a very welcome sight. The former Leeds man can cover left-back, left wing-back and left wing, and his wand of a left foot - Latics' main source of attacking threat last term - adds to Leam Richardson's options.