Wigan Athletic chief reflects on 'really convincing' FA Cup win at Boreham Wood - 'a clear identity'

Gary Caldwell felt Wigan Athletic were ‘really convincing’ winners at National League leaders Boreham Wood in the first round of the FA Cup.

Goals from Jon Mellish and Morgan Fox had Latics two goals to the good at the break.

And Fox headed home number three in the second period as Latics held on without the home side ever looking like pulling one back.

"We had a clear plan of how we were going to win the game,” said Caldwell.

"I think they're an excellent football team, and I think they'll win the National League comfortably.

"When you're talking about any team that hasn't lost this season - and we're now in November - it shows just how good a team they are.

"We gave them the full respect they deserve, but I thought we were very, very good, and if anything I thought we could have won the game by more, with the chances we created on the counter attack.

"They give you a lot of problems in how they set up, and we tried to play in a 5-3-2 in training to combat that.

"That didn't really work in training, and we spoke to the players about it, and identified it would be better to go with a 5-2-3 and put more pressure on the ball.

"I thought when we did that, we looked a real threat, although I would have liked us to have looked after the ball better.

"Yes we want to have an identity about the way we play, but the most important thing on days like this is getting through to the next round,

"To come here against a team flying at their level shows the level we're at - two levels above them - and it was a really convincing win."