Wigan Athletic will benefit from schedule, insists international ace

Latics return to action after the international break this weekend at Tilt's former club Rotherham.

It's the first of 12 matches in the space of just 43 days before the Championship season again pauses for the World Cup.

And rather than proving to be an unwanted distraction, Tilt feels it's something to take advantage of.

"That's 100 per cent the way we're looking at it," he said. "When we come back, I think it's Saturday-Tuesday-Saturday for most weeks until the next break.

"Then we've got another month off, and it's a perfect time to assess again where we are as a club and a team.

"Depending on where we are, we'll set new targets for the next block of games, and so on."

Latics picked up 13 points from their opening nine matches, to lie 12th in the fledgling league table.

"I feel we've done well, we've been in every game, even the Burnley 5-1, we were in that game until the very late goals," Tilt assessed.

"Some of the games we've drawn, we could easily have won, and the points tally could have been even higher.

"The aim at the start of the season was to be competitive in every game, and I feel that will only get better as the season goes on."

The player is also satisfied with his own contribution on his return to the second tier.

"On a personal level, I'm pleased with the way I've started the season," he said.

"It does help when you get a run of games under your belt, you start to get that consistency back.

"I had a few injury problems but I seem to have shaken them off.

"I feel like I'm getting better and better with every game tick off in the Championship."