Wigan Athletic urged to 'keep grafting' despite 'not getting rub of green'

Latics slipped back to the foot of the Championship following Tuesday night's 1-0 defeat at West Brom.

Although the first half was a complete write-off, the visitors picked up markedly in the final quarter - sparked by the introduction off the bench of Magennis.

The new man saw one header saved and one fly just over the bar, with Ashley Fletcher having similar fortune with two shots.

And right at the death, another substitute, Tom Pearce, saw a volley superbly tipped over by home goalkeeper Josh Griffiths.

In fairness, the Baggies also hit the woodwork twice and missed a couple of other sitters, but Latics were left to reflect on another tough night at the office.

“The first half was very frustrating,” said Magennis. “The gaffer and the lads weren’t too pleased with how we applied ourselves.

"In the second half, we had to go for it with the substitutions, chasing the game.

“We would much rather dictate games, but unfortunately given the position we are in, that’s not the case.

“We’re not fully getting dominated, but we’re letting games get away from us, and we’ve got to try and rectify that going forward.

“It’s fine margins. We can analyse the game until the cows come home.

"But at the end of the day, we have to put our heads down and keep grafting.

“We’ve got the quality in the squad, but at this moment in time, we’re not getting the rub of the green.

"We can’t feel sorry for ourselves, and we have to take the positives and learn from them.

“We’ve got to keep fighting until the very end.”

It was Magennis’ second cameo off the bench in the space of four days after returning to the fold following injury.

He’d played the last five minutes against Birmingham at the weekend.

Magennis’ previous run-out before the weekend had been the home league defeat to Luton in January – which turned out to be Kolo Toure’s last game in charge.