Neil Critchley felt his Blackpool side deserved a point at Wigan after suffering a 1-0 defeat that dented their Sky Bet League One play-off aspirations.
An away win would have seen Blackpool climb to sixth in the table on goal difference ahead of the international break.
But Scott Smith’s 26th-minute goal – his first in senior football – proved to be the difference at the DW Stadium, as Wigan climbed to the 50-point mark.
Blackpool had chances to go home with a point, but England Under-21 goalkeeper Sam Tickle denied Shayne Lavery in the first half, before Wigan Academy product Kyle Joseph headed just wide for the visitors after the break.
“Yes, it was a fine line today, and we knew it was going to be like that,” said Critchley. “Looking at some of their recent results, most of them have been low-scoring games, and we knew the first goal would be decisive.
“They got it, from a really great cross but, from our point of view, a poor goal to concede.
“In the second half we were by far the more dominant team, we pinned them back, and it’s not easy to break down 11 men, but we created some decent chances.
“When you do that, you have to take one of them, and we couldn’t do that.
“You’re not going to come here and dominate for 90 minutes, they’re a good team with some good players.
“They play a really good brand of possession football, they overload the middle of the pitch, and they make it really difficult for you.
“I’ve watched a lot of them this season, and they cause a lot of teams a lot of problems with how they play.
“But there was nothing in the game…they got the first goal, and we dominated the second half.
“Overall I thought we deserved to get a point from the game, but it wasn’t to be.”
Wigan boss Shaun Maloney said: “It was two very different halves.
“Blackpool are one of the better teams in the league without the ball, and when you don’t get your build-up play right, they can quickly create chances.
“I really enjoyed the first half, but the second half was the complete opposite.
“We had to defend, and they had a couple of good chances, one a header and one that hit the side-netting.
“But I get just as much pleasure from watching that second-half performance as the first half.
“In the first half, we went very aggressive with the line-up, but we had to play under great pressure – and we did.
“Blackpool are a very good side, they’re going for the play-offs, and the more attacking they went in the second half, the more we had to defend.
“We’ve had to rely on Sam Tickle a lot in these kinds of matches, but I thought we defended pretty well.
“We gave up two chances in that second half, but in other matches we’ve given up a few more.
“In that sense, it was pleasing that we restricted them to that number of chances.”
Hurtig the hero after late goal sends Arsenal into Champions League quarters
Lina Hurtig's 89th minute winner ensured Arsenal progressed to the quarter-finals of the Women's Champions League after edging Juventus 1-0 on Thursday.
After being frustrated for large parts of the encounter, Hurtig bundled home from close range after Martina Lenzini's poor clearance to book the Gunners' place in the last eight.
Despite Arsenal dominating the early exchanges, it was Juventus who had the first sight of goal, though Eva Schatzer's effort was easy for Daphne van Domselaar to gather.
In a first half that saw just two shots on target, both coming from the visitors, Renee Slegers' substitutes proved to be the difference for Arsenal.
Slegers introduced Beth Mead, Stina Blackstenius and Hurtig late on, with the latter somehow putting Kim Little's cross over the bar from five yards out.
However, the Swede would atone for her earlier error, combining with fellow substitute Blackstenius to net against her former club and send them out of the competition with two group games remaining.
Meanwhile, in Group D, Barcelona edged closer to the quarter-finals of the competition with a convincing 4-1 victory over St. Polten at the Generali Arena.
The reigning champions are still three points behind Manchester City following their 2-1 win over Hammarby, and know a win against the Swedes next month will see them progress.
Kika Nazareth opened the scoring in the 20th minute after capitalising on a mistake by Kamila Dubcova, notching her second nine minutes later from close range.
Barca found themselves three goals up at the break when Vicky Lopez netted her first goal in the competition to put the result beyond doubt.
There was also a landmark moment for Alexia Putellas, who netted her 200th goal for the club with a well-taken effort into the far corner.
Valentina Madl took some of the shine off an otherwise impressive display from the visitors, who have now taken their tally to 20 goals from their four matches in the competition.
Guardiola agrees two-year contract extension with Man City
Pep Guardiola will be Manchester City manager for at least two more seasons after 2024-25, after he signed a two-year contract extension on Thursday.
The 53-year-old was coming to the end of his City deal, which was due to expire at the end of the current campaign, but he has opted to remain at the Etihad Stadium.
The deal itself will take Guardiola's tenure at the club to over a decade, making him City's longest-serving manager since Les McDowall in 1963.
There had been suggestions that he may leave at the end of the season following the announcement that director of football Txiki Begiristain was on his way out.
Guardiola was strongly linked with the England job after Gareth Southgate resigned in the wake of their Euro 2024 final defeat, but the Football Association appointed Thomas Tuchel last month.
“Manchester City means so much to me," Guardiola said. “This is my ninth season here; we have experienced so many amazing times together. I have a really special feeling for this football club.
“That is why I am so happy to be staying for another two more seasons.
“Thank you to everyone for continuing to trust and support me – The Owner, The Chairman Khaldoon, Ferran, Txiki, the players and, of course, the fans… everyone connected to Manchester City. It has always been an honour, a pleasure and a privilege to be here.
“I have said this many times before, but I have everything a manager could ever wish for, and I appreciate that so much.
“Hopefully, now we can add more trophies to the ones we have already won. That will be my focus.”
Having been appointed in 2016, Guardiola is by some distance Manchester City's most successful manager of all time, having won 18 major trophies during his time at the club.
That list includes their first-ever Champions League triumph in 2023 and six Premier League titles, including an unprecedented four on the spin.
He also boasts a 72.04% win percentage across all competitions, which is unsurprisingly the highest of any full-time City manager in history.
Shaw at the double as Man City progress in Champions League
Khadija Shaw scored twice as Manchester City beat Hammarby 2-1 to seal their place in the Women's Champions League quarter-finals.
Gareth Taylor's team entered Thursday's game with a perfect record in Group D, and their fourth win in as many European matches ensured they finished in the top two.
Shaw—the leading scorer in the Women's Super League this season with eight goals—put them ahead in the 31st minute, driving into the area after taking in Yui Hasegawa's pass before seeing her shot deflect into the top corner.
Shaw was booked for celebrating in front of the home fans despite appearing to have objects thrown at her from the stands, and Hammarby should have levelled when Julia Blakstad fired wide 10 minutes later.
The hosts did draw level three minutes into the second half as Ellen Wangerheim tapped home while City's Laura Blindkilde Brown was down appealing for a free-kick.
That parity was short-lived, though, as Shaw blasted into the top corner from 25 yards out, taking her overall tally for this season to 12 goals in all competitions.
In Group C, meanwhile, Bayern Munich lost their perfect record as they played out a 1-1 draw with Valerenga, boosting Arsenal's hopes of topping the pile.
Jovana Damnjanovic came off the bench to put Bayern ahead 15 minutes from time in Norway, but Elise Thorsnes headed home following an 88th-minute corner to snatch a point for the hosts.
Arsenal could now move within a point of Bayern when they face Juventus in Group C's other match later on Thursday.
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