Wigan Athletic boss: ‘Game-plan went out the window’

Latics were rocked by the loss of Danny Fox after 25 minutes

The Millers deservedly went in front on 25 minutes with Clark Robertson heading home powerfully from close range.

But Latics were level inside four minutes, thanks to Josh Windass’ third goal in the last three matches.

Rotherham created more than enough opportunities to score goals, but found Latics goalkeeper Jamie Jones in fine form.

“I think when Rotherham scored, there only looked to be one result,” acknowledged the Latics boss.

“They played so well, very nearly unplayable in that first half.

“We couldn’t get them off us, they put us under a lot of pressure.

“We couldn’t get a foothold in the game, until we scored the equaliser against the run of play.

“At half-time, coming in at 1-1, we’re quite thankful we’re still in the game.

“We came into it a lot more in that second half, and showed a lot more of what we’re about.

“A lot of teams would have gone under in the face of all that pressure, and we dug in well for our point.

“In my opinion, Rotherham probably just about deserved to nick the game.

“But I’ll say a draw was a fair result just to wind Paul (Warne) up!”

Credit Latics for making do and mending despite having their pre-match plans thrown into disarray with a triple whammy.

First, Lee Evans had to drop out on the morning of the game after going down with a bug.

Then, Nick Powell had to race back to the north west just minutes before kick-off - after being named on the bench - after hearing his partner had gone into labour.

Finally, skipper Danny Fox had to be stretchered off with only 25 minutes gone after being knocked out following a bang to the head.

“We lost Lee this morning, he came down sick and we had to send him back to Wigan in a taxi,” explained Cook.

“We had planned on having Nick come off the bench, but his partner went into labour just before the game.

“Congratulations to Nick and his partner by the way, they had a little girl which is great news.

“And to then lose Foxy was a big disappointment...that’s a big part of our game-plan out of the window.

“It was a bad knock he took, he was knocked out and has had a few stitches in his mouth.

“Hopefully he’ll be back sooner rather than later.”