Stoke City vs Wigan Athletic. Sky Bet Championship.
Bet365 StadiumAttendance17,726.
Report and free match highlights from the Sky Bet Championship clash between Stoke City and Wigan Athletic at the bet365 Stadium as Will Keane scored the only goal of the game to seal a win for the Latics.
Tuesday 18 April 2023 23:13, UK
Will Keane's 10th league goal of the season gave Wigan hope in their battle to avoid Sky Bet Championship relegation with a battling 1-0 away win over Stoke.
The striker bagged a 54th-minute winner for the Latics as they climbed to within five points of getting out of the relegation zone.
Manager Shaun Maloney's side still have three fixtures to secure safety, but three of the four teams directly above them in the table have games in hand in what promises to be a gripping finale.
Stoke boss Alex Neil made six changes to his side at the bet365 Stadium, with two of those enforced as the home side went in search of a much-needed win.
And they could have been ahead after only a minute when Nick Powell collected a Josh Tymon cross and refused to pull the trigger with the goal at his mercy.
Instead his pass to Lewis Baker was intercepted and the visitors gratefully thwarted the danger.
Tymon had a chance of his own soon after, but he fired wide from 25 yards out.
Jordan Thompson shot wide as the Potters pressed without reward for an opener, before Scotland striker Jacob Brown was forced off injured shortly after the half-hour mark and the Potters were forced to shuffle their pack.
Substitute forward Tyrese Campbell nearly had an immediate impact as he went within a whisker of equalising just two minutes later, but he curled agonisingly wide with a sweet left-footed strike.
Powell headed wide on the stroke of half-time but neither side could find a breakthrough.
But it was Keane who broke the deadlock against the run of play for the Latics.
He smashed home with a sweet strike and then shot off target with a decent chance for the visitors shortly after the hour mark.
Midfielder Tendayi Daerika should have scored five minutes later, volleying horribly wide from a great position as the chance went begging for a second goal, and with it a chance to put the contest to bed.
Morgan Fox also wasted a glorious chance, firing wide for the hosts with 15 minutes left as the Potters slumped to a third successive home loss.
And in the last minute of the game Fox had a shot cleared off the goalline as Wigan held on for a famous win.
Stoke's Alex Neil:
"I didn't think Wigan had too much to do to win the game, which is really frustrating. It's disappointing and frustrating. I thought the whole night was flat, you could sense it in the atmosphere, you could see it on the pitch. It was slow.
"We started quite brightly and had two or three chances in the first few minutes. We should score at least one of them and if we do score one it probably changes the dynamic of the game, changes the dynamic of the atmosphere - but we didn't and that led to more frustration."
Wigan's Shaun Maloney:
"I couldn't have asked any more from the players, it was a great performance. Even at 1-0 up I like that we were aggressive and still creating chances. I hope people notice our defensive record has been so good since I arrived and that starts from the forward players. If we perform like we did tonight, you know this club, anything is possible.
"While it's mathematically still on, you never know, you really don't. We've just got to keep winning and see what happens. It's going to be really tough but we've got to keep fighting until the end. After the disappointment of the weekend (against Blackpool), I thought tonight's performance was immense from the first whistle."
