DW Stadium: Wigan Athletic v Northampton Town (Saturday 12th August 2023)

Thank you very much for watching and I hope you enjoyed the video! Here are my thoughts on the day below:
Matchday 2 of the 2023/24 League 1 season brought me back down to Greater Manchester as Wigan Athletic took on Northampton Town.
The Latics were already on the back foot before the start of the season as an 8 point deduction due to ongoing financial problems which saw them relegated from the Championship after just being promoted.
They however won on the opening day with potentially the performance of the day in the EFL with a 2-1 away win against Derby County, one of the hotly predictions for promotion.
In contrast, Northampton lost on the opening day to fellow promotion side Stevenage. Northampton will be hoping for a longer stint this time in League 1 after being relegated just 1 season after returning back to the third tier.
On the day, it was a fairly even contest in the first quarter of the game before a lovely bolt from the blue by the ever impressive Sam Hoskins gave the Cobblers the lead. For the rest of the first half Wigan dominated play and done everything but score in the first half as the Latics were a goal down.
Northampton decided to be tight at the back and consolidate their lead but Shaun Maloney’s men kept pushing to get back into the contest. You wondered if the Latics were ever going to score until academy product Charlie Hughes headed in with just over 15 minutes in the game. The majority of the DW Stadium were behind the Latics as they sensed this game could turn on its head.
With Northampton still sitting back and not making too much impact on the game, Callum McManaman scored an unbelievable strike from 30 yards out giving Max Thompson in goal no chance.
Eventually Northampton tried to come out and bring the game back to even score they did not provide many clear cut chances and it was too late in the game at The Latics start the campaign with back to back wins and almost off negative points.
I was impressed by the way Wigan played throughout the game, even after going down, they showed belief to try and get back into the game and didn’t stop doing the good things to create chances. I think this stems from what Shaun Maloney has done for Wigan, former player of course, he understands the club so well and the fans are always behind him and the team.
For Northampton, it’s obviously easier to speak about something after it has happened but sitting back, definitely cost them in the game. Even once they went behind they didn’t look like scoring, as if the stuffing had been knocked out of them.