Wigan Athletic more than hold their own against table-topping Sheffield Wednesday
Wigan Athletic held League One leaders Sheffield Wednesday to a goalless draw at Hillsborough, and on another day might have been going back across the Pennies with all three points.
Wednesday hit the outside of the post through Mason Burstow in the opening exchanges, but Latics managed to reach the midway point in the first half without further alarm.
And they were asking more and more questions in attack, with Jon Mellish and Fraser Murray not afraid to get forward down either flank.
From one of those attacks, Murray got in behind and crossed for Mellish, whose shot was well blocked by a defender.
Moments later, Mellish was again the spare man, forcing a good save from Wednesday goalkeeper Joe Lumley.
At the other end, a fierce strike from Yan Valery was well stopped by Joe Whitworth with his right foot, but Latics will have been pleased with how things were going at half-time.
It could have got even better at the beginning of the second period when they carved out two cracking opportunities that almost brought about the opening goal.
First, a Charlie Gray cross found Morgan Fox unmarked at the far post, only for the defender to produce a really poor header back towards where the ball had come from.
Finley Burns nodded the ball back across goal to Fox, whose shot from close-range was diverted behind for a corner.
Then, from the resulting corner, Latics came even closer when the ball was cleared to Jensen Weir, whose shot came back off the inside of the far post.
From the rebound, Reggie Walsh couldn't put the ball away, but the home fans were getting more and more anxious in their seats that this top-against-bottom showdown wasn't going according to the script.
Walsh then tried his luck from 25 yards with some force, only for the ball to clear the bar by a yard.
Other than a speculative cross from the Wednesday left clipping the Wigan bar on its way through the box, Whitworth wasn't having to do a great deal.
Dara Costelloe, Scott Hogan – making his debut - Connor Barrett and Archie Harris gave Latics fresh legs for the final stages, with Perkins, Walsh, Gray and Murray making way.
And Latics almost sneaked a winning goal in the eight added minutes, when Hogan raced through only to see his shot superbly deflected wide by a desperate defender.