Wigan Athletic ace Kal Naismith suggests early first-half moment against Leeds United paved the way for shock win

Follow us on Google Discover

The Latics ran out 2-1 winners over Marcelo Bielsa’s side in Good Friday’s Championship clash at Elland Road.

Wigan Athletic dealt Leeds United a huge blow in their hopes of achieving automatic promotion from the Championship with a 2-1 win at Elland Road on Good Friday.

Given that Sheffield United had beaten Nottingham Forest 2-0 earlier on in the day, the pressure was on Marcelo Bielsa’s side to get a result against the Latics and edge back up into second in the table.

Indeed, it looked as though it was going to be the Whites’ day when Cedric Kipre was sent off for handling on the line early on and, although Pablo Hernandez’s penalty hit the post, Patrick Bamford put the hosts ahead in the 17th minute.

However, Gavin Massey drew Wigan level on the stroke of half time and, just after the hour mark, struck again to put the visitors in front, subsequently seeing out the game for all three points despite Leeds weighing in with 36 shots, 10 of which were on target (Sky Sports).

The Latics edged five points clear of the relegation zone following their triumph at Elland Road, while also stopping Leeds from returning to second place as the Blades have a better goal difference than the Whites.

Wigan winger Kal Naismith spoke to the official club website after the game and he suggested that Kipre’s 14th-minute sending off actually helped pave the way for a shock victory, given how it would have forced the remaining 10 men into upping their game in the face of adversity.

“I think it was huge to get in 1-1 at half time,” he said. “It just gave us that bit of belief that it was never really going for us away from home recently. Maybe going down to ten, gave us a bit more of something to hold onto on a day like this against a massive team.

“I was saying to the boys at the end there, that I felt a little bit different at half time. Then Gav got the second and it was an unbelievable moment for us but we’ve still got a lot of time to try and hang on. But I thought we were brilliant.”