Kal Naismith says whole Wigan Athletic squad can lift them to Elland Road glory

Kal Naismith insists the attitude of the whole squad will be vital if Wigan Athletic are to survive their relegation scrap.
Kal NaismithKal Naismith
Kal Naismith

The 27-year-old made the most of his recall last weekend as Latics almost secured all three points against leaders Norwich at the DW.And they’ll need a similar performance – this time on the road – against promotion-chasers Leeds tomorrow afternoon. That will take effort from everyone, from Paul Cook’s starting XI to those playing a supporting role, according to Naismith. “I’ve said it all season – regardless of whether I’ve been playing or not – that the boys out of the team are just as important as the boys who are in,” he said. “It’s all about how eager they are, how good their attitude is, how good the morale is.“Look at Jedi (Antonee Robinson) – he was out of the team for a bit while I was in, but I always said he’d come back in because he’s a great young player.“He did come back in for me, but then it’s my turn to support the lads, which I have been doing the last few weeks.“You’ve got to show patience and wait for your turn, but the gaffer made a few changes against Norwich and we were all ready to come in.”Cook made four changes to the side which was pinned to a 1-1 draw by Norwich last weekend. And the performance encouraged supporters as Latics look to an Easter Weekend which could see them secure survival, should other results go their way and they manage to beat Leeds tomorrow and Preston at home on Monday afternoon. They led 1-0 at the break last Sunday, and Naismith revealed the plan was to keep pressing. “The manager said at half-time that we’d done well to get into the position we were in, and to not sit back and invite pressure,” he said. “If you sit back and invite top teams to come on to you, they’ll do that and create chances.“We wanted to keep taking it to them, and you saw with the number of chances we created that we got some joy with that.“It’s just unfortunate we couldn’t take any of them, and if you give (Teemu) Pukki that kind of chance at the other end, he’ll punish teams.”