Caldwell hails goalscorer's display despite Oxford defeat

Gary Caldwell once again praised Christian Saydee for his contribution in a Wigan shirt – and challenged the other Latics players to follow his example.

The 24-year old made another impressive step after returning from injury, despite defeat at Oxford.

Having come off the bench with Reggie Walsh just six minutes into the second half, the London-born striker gave a jolt to a lifeless display.

His personal contribution was topped off by a wonder-strike, his first goal in a Wigan shirt since Stockport at the Brick in August 2025.

A clear shift in the game that arguably cost the visitors a point occurred when Fraser Murray saw red soon after the equaliser.

However, there were enough glimpses shown after the interval that would have pleased the 228 away supporters.

Caldwell too was impressed by his goalscorer, and reckoned he can show the way for his team-mates.

He said “We need more players to step up to the plate like that and show what we see.

"We see potential but we have to see it more in the game.

“The whole team was brilliant, Christian probably epitomised that, and had that physicality and belief.

“He’s been outstanding in training, and since he’s come back from his injury he’s been outstanding on Saturday against Reading and again here at Oxford.“He was incredible again, I thought Reggie Walsh was incredible as well.”

Caldwell also felt some of his side were still finding their way in senior football after the Oxford game.

No less than six players who started at the Kassam were under the age of 23, a figure that grew with the introduction of Walsh, K’Marni Miller, and Chris Sze.

While the Latics head coach has shown faith in them, he pointed out the difference between their youth system background and League One.

Caldwell added “The group we have, a lot of them have played under-21 football at Academy level, where they play one game every three weeks.

“It’s tippy-tappy football where they’re learning on the job. Football is very physical, very demanding.”

Despite the good display by Saydee, it was another defeat away from the Brick for Wigan, who remain at the foot of League One.

While there were some bright spots in the second half, a poor first half performance was a comedown after the Reading victory.However, after his remarks last week about needing to keep working hard, Caldwell was pleased at the endeavour shown again.

He said “I think the fans can see the effort, as a team – in particular the second half. They could see a team that was fighting and trying to play the right way.

“For 45 minutes we didn’t do enough in the game, to get anything from a very good Oxford team.

“But in the second half I felt we deserved something from the game.“It’s not a step back, it’s a really difficult away game. We had to learn the lessons from the first half, so it’s a disappointing result.”