Jackett praises "feisty" win
ByPA Sport Report
Published 25/04/2015 at 17:50 GMT
Kenny Jackett could not contain his delight after seeing his Wolves side keep alive their play-off hopes with a 1-0 Sky Bet Championship victory at struggling Wigan.
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Benik Afobe's first-half goal from Bakary Sako's free-kick was the difference, with Wigan now requiring a miracle to escape the drop to League One.
It was a triumphant return to the DW Stadium for Wolves striker Nouha Dicko, who seemed to be involved in a running battle with his former team-mate James McClean.
The Irish winger was once again Wigan's best attacking outlet, only to be shown a second yellow card in stoppage time to cap a miserable afternoon for Wigan.
"I thought it was a very hard-fought, competitive, feisty game, as you would expect with Wigan having everything to play for," Jackett said.
"They threw everything at us and it's an excellent clean sheet from our point of view.
"We played narrow in midfield, forced the ball wide and defended the crosses well.
"With Dicko and Afobe on the break, I thought we always had a threat.
"The goal came from an excellent free-kick from Sako and a great header from Afobe."
The race for the play-offs will now go to the last day of the season, and Jackett is keeping his fingers crossed Wolves will make the end-of-season shake-up.
"We've got 75 points now with one game left, and if we can win our last game at home against Millwall that would take us to 78," the Wolves boss added.
"If we don't get into the top six with those type of figures, then I think we'd be unlucky.
"You're coming off the pitch and you're looking for something to break elsewhere in the country.
"Both Brentford and Ipswich winning has made it tough for us, and perhaps taken the wind out of our sails.
"But all we can do is focus on next week, try to do our job and try to win as many games as we can.
"If we can do that, we can build on things as they are now."
Wigan manager Gary Caldwell was left to reflect on what might have been after a decent start to the game.
The home side came flying out of the blocks but were unable to make their early possession count.
And they were unable to respond to Afobe's 25th-minute goal that proved to be the winner.
"At this stage of the season it's results that you're looking for," Caldwell admitted.
"The performance for the first 25 minutes is something I'm sure I'll look back on in the future as the way I want my team to play and express themselves.
"I thought we were excellent, we played with intensity in both defence and attack, we kept the ball.
"We caused them a lot of problems, our shape caused them problems, and we created good opportunities.
"They weren't clear-cut opportunities, and that's something we need to get better at when we're controlling a game - punishing the opposition.
"In a few days I might be able to look back and be happy, but the result was the most important thing and we didn't get that."
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