England Under-20s star Charlie Hughes popped up with a winner after 20 minutes of second-half stoppage-time as Wigan edged a 1-0 Sky Bet League One victory over Wycombe in a match otherwise devoid of much excitement or entertainment.

Centre-back Hughes had earlier tried his luck from his own half – which never threatened to trouble Max Stryjek – and that was about it for the first half.

The game was in desperate need of something to shake it into life and it arrived 10 minutes after the restart – in slapstick fashion.

Referee Adam Herczeg was caught in a midfield sandwich and – after a delay lasting the best part of 20 minutes, while a qualified whistler was found in the crowd – he was replaced in the middle by fourth official Steven Rushton.

Immediately after the restart, Wycombe thought they had scored, when Luke Leahy’s shot deflected in off Kieran Sadlier, with a massive deflection doing for Sam Tickle.

However, the flag was straight up on the near side for offside.

An unbelievable defence-splitting pass from Hughes then released Steven Sessegnon, just inside the box, who dragged his shot just wide.

With 20 minutes of added time, there was time for Wycombe to fashion a big opportunity of their own, when a long ball was flicked on and Richard Kone’s shot needed a brilliant save from Tickle to keep it out – before Hughes’ last-gasp heroics.

Leyton Orient boss Richie Wellens was satisfied with his side’s 0-0 draw against Wycombe.

Although the O’s recorded back-to-back clean sheets in the league for the first time since August, they were unable to find a way past Chairboys keeper Max Stryjek even with the seven minutes of added time caused when a linesman sustained an injury in the first-half and swapped roles with the fourth official .

Stryjek pulled off a string of fine saves, including two from piledrivers from full-back Tom James as Orient, despite dominating play in the second half, were unable to find a way past the former Poland youth international.

“I thought first half it wasn’t a great game with two teams that looked leggy but only one team who wanted to win it as they came for a point,” Wellens said.

“Fair play to them but we showed a lack of energy but I’m not too displeased as we got a point out of the game.

“In a perfect world we would have taken our front three off and freshened things up for this game but we were holding on for a hard one-nil win against Charlton on Boxing Day and couldn’t really do that which probably effected us today.

“Did we do enough to win the game? Maybe, maybe not but they haven’t had a shot on target and we thought we’d have more of the ball today when in fact we only had 62 per cent possession.

“We’ve come a long way in the last few weeks though and it showed with a team who are predominantly at the top of this league have come here and only come for a point.”

Wycombe boss Matt Bloomfield was also content with the point.

“I was really pleased with the clean sheet, particularly after conceding a couple of late goals recently and the long journey we had on Boxing Day at Exeter which had got to the legs of the boys,” he said.

“So I tried to freshen things up with five changes and wanted to pick an attacking team.

“We knew it was going to be a running game against a fit and young Orient team. We knew we needed to play on the front foot and attack them and I think we did that in the first half at times.

“We’re working hard at the moment. We will be in tomorrow and start preparing for Bristol Rovers on New Year’s Day.

“We all want to be celebrating wins and it’s not so much fun when you’re not, but we keep going and the boys are giving absolutely everything.

“In my 20 years I spent here I know what it means and working hard we get to where we want to be.”