Owen Coyle was at pains to insist his Wigan Athletic side remain very much a work in progress after they rounded off a historic week by strengthening their challenge for an automatic return to the Premier League.
Tuesday’s Capital One cup trip to Manchester City will be their third game in six days encompassing three different competitions, underlining the strain to be put on Coyle’s much changed squad this season. Their goals were scored by players making their first league starts for the club, Ryan Shotton and Nick Powell.
The 12 new arrivals, Coyle was keen to remind supporters, will take time to adjust to their surroundings in the never-ending conveyor-belt of challenges provided by a season in the Championship. With the Manchester United loanee Powell impressing in particular, all appears to be under control at the DW Stadium, provided the recruits can settle swiftly.
“I’ve said from the very outset this is a new group of players whose understanding of how to play with one another is growing week by week,” Coyle said after Powell walked in the second goal to embellish a lead provided by Shotton’s 12th-minute header as the home side showed no ill effects from last week’s first foray into European football.
Coyle added: “We’re having to do that learning in an entirely new and ultra-competitive environment. It’s up to us to impose our quality on the opposition, otherwise good teams will take advantage. We’re in the middle of a run of three games in five days spanning three competitions which is going to test the squad to the limit in this period, although the same could be said of the whole season, with the amount of fixtures we have to face.”
Powell underlined the influence of the Manchester United diaspora on the Championship this season, perhaps not to the extent of his team-mates Jesse Lingard, scorer of four goals on his debut for Birmingham City, or Federico Macheda, who scored twice for Doncaster Rovers against Nottingham Forest. However, as David Moyes’s men came off a distant second best in the Manchester derby, their England Under-21 international showed that while their present might be a little uncertain, their future looks bright.
After seeing the teenager make certain of victory with a comical goal in the final minute, dispossessing the goalkeeper Dean Gerken to walk the ball into the net after chasing a seemingly lost cause, Coyle, who helped nurture Jack Wilshere and Daniel Sturridge during his time in charge at Bolton, outlined the potential he sees in the youngster.
“There’s no doubt he’s set for a huge career. As I’ve done before with a few young players, I’ll try to furnish him with that confidence and opportunity to play. It’s a win-win situation. He gets games with us and boosts our team, while he will go back to Manchester United hopefully a better player and one ready to challenge for a first-team place.”
That the Wigan goalkeeper Scott Carson rivalled Powell as Wigan’s most effective player highlighted how Ipswich, who had taken seven points from their three previous games, deserved a share of the spoils. Jean Beausejour cleared Aaron Cresswell’s early header off the line before Carson took centre stage with outstanding saves to thwart Daryl Murphy, Cole Skuse and Christophe Berra.
Shotton, the 12th summer arrival, on loan from Stoke City, headed the home side ahead from Powell’s early corner before James McClean, who wanted too much time after Ipswich were caught short of numbers at the back, Thomas Rogne, with a wasteful header from Ben Watson’s deep cross, and James McArthur courtesy of a hurried late finish, all spurned openings to kill the contest.
Powell, a big unit for 19, showed them how it should be done with his last-minute goal. “It’s a rick from thekeeper,” Mick McCarthy, the Ipswich manager, conceded. “We were equal to or better than Wigan for most of the game but you’ve got to be ruthless and take your chances.
“I’m not singling lads out but their two goals were poor ones from our point of view. We weren’t ruthless at either end and we let them off the hook. We’ve got to be more clinical but I sound like a broken record. It’s all bollocks really.”