Gary Caldwell relieved to see Wigan hold on for much-needed victory

Gary Caldwell could not hide his delight – and relief – after Wigan beat Reading 1-0 to secure only their second Sky Bet League One victory of the season.

Scott Hogan scored the only goal of the game with 20 minutes to go, scuffing home from close range after Joel Pereira parried substitute Christian Saydee’s cross into his path.

Wigan goalkeeper Joe Whitworth was equal to anything Reading threw at him, while the home side could and perhaps should have won by more, with Brad Burrowes, Reggie Walsh and Jensen Weir coming close to further goals.

Caldwell said: “I’m obviously delighted with the win. It’s felt like a long time since the last one – we’ve obviously had the international break as well – but I thought we deserved it.

“I thought the players were excellent in the first half, we were a real attacking threat, some of our play in possession was tremendous, how we were finding a free player.

“We created so many problems for them that they changed shape before half-time, and got a bit more of a foothold in the game.

“We adapted at half-time and, while we weren’t quite so free-flowing in the second half, I thought our spirit, our character, our determination not to let the ball go in our net was excellent.

“We kept the players committed and believing, because they knew themselves that they were playing well but hadn’t scored again and missed some good chances.

“The most disappointing aspect for me was us giving them some big moments out of very little, and we have to be so much more switched on at all times.

“The finishers came on and gave us what we needed at that time, and we created a brilliant moment that we’ve been waiting so long for.

“They added physicality and allowed us to change the way we were playing – instead of playing through the press, we started playing over it.

“We could have scored more than the one goal, and it was pretty stressful at the end. But we saw it out and we’ll take that.

“I thought we deserved the clean sheet because, when we had to defend our box and put our bodies on the line, we stood up to be counted.”

For Reading boss Leam Richardson, it was not a happy return to the club with which he won the League One title five seasons ago.

“Credit to Wigan for the result,” he said. “We started the game slowly, but I thought we grew into the first half and finished very strongly.

“If we score then, I think it’s a totally different game, but I thought we also started the second half very well.

“We suffered a transitional goal, which is poor on our part, and then Wigan hung on from there.

“So I’m disappointed with the result, because I thought we had enough chances to have come away with something.

“We came up with some good moments, where decision-making could have been a bit better.

“We carry enough players on the pitch who can get goals, and we’ve got to make sure that when those chances do come, we take them.

“It wasn’t to be, but we’ve got a busy week ahead with two home games, and hopefully we can bounce back from this very quickly.”