Having conceded another early goal and a penalty, Nottingham Forest fought back against Wigan Athletic to salvage a draw. Jack Bryan was at the DW Stadium
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I have to say, I went to the game in a pretty confident mood. In the back of my head I knew we’d never beaten Wigan away from home — and the two performances we had there last year are ones I wish I’d forgotten about.
But make no mistake — we would’ve lost yesterday’s game by at least two goals any time in the past few seasons. No doubt about it. That never-say-die attitude we saw on Tuesday night against Bury was evident at the DW Stadium.
We conceded early again and then saw Wigan miss some chances, one in particular they put wide from a rebound off the post from another effort. You just knew as the clocked ticked on, if Forest had an opportunity they’d take it.
And without Matty Cash the scoreline could’ve looked quite different in the past three games. Having scored the equaliser, some lovely skill from the number 14 on the byline resulted in him being bought down for a penalty and gave us the opportunity to take a point away from Wigan.
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The point will do us good as the unbeaten record goes on. Any point away from home is a good point and it could turn out to be an important one if we can pick up three points on Saturday against Birmingham City.
The defence still needs some work. Jack Robinson looks like a decent acquisition and we’ve still yet to see Sam Byram and Michael Hefele to make an appearance in the league.
I remain confident we can compete this year and be a force to be reckoned with. The strength in depth Forest have now is very good, and it will take time for the players to gel and get to know each other more. Patience is, as ever, required.
As for Wigan themselves, I don’t expect them to go down. They’re a pretty decent outfit with a good manager in charge and I think they recruited well during the summer given their finances. The atmosphere wasn’t that great – the drum they had in their ‘noisy corner’ could’ve been left at home, as it didn’t produce much of a decent atmosphere. And the ground was only half full but given it’s more of a rugby town, it’s half expected.
All in all, it was a very scrappy game. One where I think the referee ultimately lost control and probably a game we’d have been happy with a point from before a whistle was blown. I’m glad it’s out of the way, because we can definitely call them a bogey team. I’m definitely not in a rush to be visiting there again any time soon.