Wigan Athletic guest column: Kal Naismith

Scoring the opening goal has been a problem for us this season, but to get that early on gave us confidence to push on.

It’s a great flick-on by Leon (Clarke), a great finish by Josh (Windass), and it gives us the belief to grow into the game.

You’re able to relax and play the way you want to, and you saw what we can do when we have the platform.

When we’re in that mood we can open up teams, and we could have scored even more goals.

It was a dream debut for Leon, we all know what he brings and he was superb throughout.

We’ve all played against him, we know what he brings to the table, and we’re excited what he’ll add to our team for the rest of the year.

We made it a bit tougher for ourselves than we needed to at the end, by not finishing the game off when we had chance.

But the fact we managed to hang in there and defend so well as a team, in the face of so much pressure, should also give us belief moving forwards.

Off the field the big news was obviously the departure of Will (Grigg) just before the transfer deadline.

I’ve not been here that long, so I’ve not managed to get to know him as much as some of the other boys who’ve been here longer.

But I’ve been here long enough to know everyone absolutely loved him in the dressing room.

It was very sad to see him go, he’s a big loss to the club, but that’s football.

Players come and go all the time, it’s part of the job, and you’ve just got to get on with it.

I’m sure he’ll be a massive success at Sunderland, they’ve signed a proven goalscorer, and good luck to them.

As far as we’re concerned, we’ve managed to strengthen the squad with a few new players coming in.

Obviously the squad’s been looking a bit thin at times this year due to injury.

To get the new lads in adds a lot to the squad, especially the experience you saw with Danny (Fox) at the weekend.

Personally I benefited a lot from having him just to the side of me, guiding me through the game, offering words of advice.

On the whole it was a very good window for us.

We had a lot of quality already here, and we added to that as well.

On a personal note I’ve loving being in the team at the moment, contributing as much as I can.

I’m just grateful for the chance to be playing, even in an unfamiliar position at left-back.

I’m still getting forward into good areas, because that’s the way the gaffer wants the full-backs to get involved.

The only downside on Saturday was my crossing, which is usually one of my strengths.

I was getting into good positions and not making the most of them.

In terms of defensive areas, I feel I’m growing into the position, and it’s becoming a lot more natural to me than it was at the beginning.

When you get a shirt in the team - any shirt - it’s up to you to keep it.

And I’m trying my best to hold on to it for as long as I can.

Kal Naismith was speaking to Paul Kendrick