Youngsters knocked out of FA Youth Cup by Latics

A goal in each half gave Wigan Athletic a 2-0 victory in Wednesday night's FA Youth Cup fourth round tie at the DW Stadium.

With 11 straight wins behind them in all competitions going into the match, the hosts forged ahead via Jensen Weir's deflected free-kick after a controversial refereeing decision against defender Malachi Fagan-Walcott and we never truly recovered.

Needing to get to grips with a direct side always dangerous on the counter, we upped our game after half-time with central midfielder Harvey White covering a lot of ground in a bid to push us forward and having a couple of attempts at goal himself from distance. But when Kyle Joseph rammed home after Sean McGurk had hit the crossbar in Wigan's first real attack of the second half just beyond the hour mark, the hosts put themselves in a strong position from which we were unable to dislodge them.

A certain Harry Kane scored the winner when we last visited the DW Stadium in the FA Youth Cup a little over 10 years ago but there was to be no repeat result this time around. Joseph's early back-post header and Joe Gelhardt's decent half-volley that tested Thimothee Lo-Tutala in goal were early warning signs but the circumstances in which the hosts took the lead were controversial. Captain Fagan-Walcott pulled off what appeared to be a superb challenge to stop Joseph from bursting through on goal 22 yards out, but referee Daniel Locker deemed that a foul had been committed, with Weir's shot from the subsequent free-kick taking a wicked deflection on its way past Lo-Tutala in the 17th minute.

Fagan-Walcott was a useful presence on corners at the other end, one of his headers nearly flicked home by J'Neil Bennett, while centre-back partner Luis Binks had the ball in the net on the half-hour mark, heading home after striker Kion Etete had nodded White's free-kick back across goal, but an early off-side flag denied him an equaliser.

Wigan were dangerous with their own set-pieces, though, and despite our positive, attack-minded start to the second half where Tarrelle Whittaker floated a shot just wide and Etete was just beaten to White's ball over the top by advancing goalkeeper Sam Tickle, they bagged a second on 62 minutes. McGurk hit the crossbar, the loose ball was collected away to Lo-Tutala's right and fed back to Joseph, and he drilled in from eight yards out. Apart from a decent strike from White, saved low by Tickle with just under a quarter-of-an-hour left, it was the Latics who looked more like adding to the scoreline with Gelhardt - who has played and scored in the Championship this season - denied by Lo-Tutala and MacKenzie O'Neil converting a looping ball from inside the box in added time, only to be adjudged off-side.

Key moment

The first goal was always going to be important against a tough Wigan side and it was the hosts who found it. Weir's set-piece took a wicked deflection off the wall to wrong-foot goalkeeper Lo-Tutala and the hosts were able to maintain control of the tie from that point on.

Coach's view

Under-18s Coach Matt Taylor said: "The best team won - it was quite simple. We were aware of what we were facing as a group and we didn't stand up to it. It pains me to say it - they wanted it more than us, they implemented their game plan and played better than us so I can't have any complaints about losing the game because the better team won. It was disappointing because we approached the game correctly, we worked and prepared in the right manner but too many players didn't turn up tonight with performances so I can have no qualms about the result, I'm just surprised about some of the players' performances.

"They got their first goal and I thought we were fortunate to get in at 1-0 down at half-time to be honest, we tried to regroup and we had a spell of about five to 10 minutes where we got the ball down but other than that, we were poor this evening. We have an identity and in the first half we didn't play to that identity. That was disappointing but we went out in the second half and we asked the boys to be braver on the ball, to risk the ball, to try to play through the thirds but utimately we couldn't keep it up, they were relentless with their pressure and I thought they had some very good performances from some of their players. I'm really, really disappointed in the way that we've performed tonight. We haven't played the way in which I know these young men can and they're equally as disappointed in the changing room as well."

Match data

Goals: Wigan - Weir 17, Joseph 62.

Yellow cards: Wigan - Gelhardt 30, Adeeko 53; Spurs - Pedder 68.

Referee: Daniel Locker.

Venue: DW Stadium, Wigan.

Weather: Gentle breeze, seven degrees.

Attendance: 668.