Ryan Lowe believes Wigan deserved more than a point against Stockport

Wigan boss Ryan Lowe felt his side more than deserved their 1-1 draw against Sky Bet League One high-flyers Stockport.

The Latics were looking to back up from midweek when they knocked County out of the Carabao Cup thanks to a late goal from Fraser Murray.

Stockport looked like they were going to exact the perfect revenge when they flew out of the blocks and led inside four minutes thanks to Jayden Fevrier’s heavily-deflected shot.

However, the visitors failed to make the most of their first-half dominance, and Wigan hit back in the second period.

Boosted by the half-time introduction of Matt Smith, Wigan dominated and – after Morgan Fox hit the crossbar with a free-kick – deservedly levelled through Christian Saydee with 12 minutes remaining.

There was still time for Paul Mullin to fire wide and Joseph Hungbo to have an effort cleared off the line, leaving Lowe in positive spirits after the game.

“I thought it was a very entertaining game, both teams wanted to win it,” said Lowe.

“We gave ourselves a bit of a mountain to climb in the first half, the goal came from an error, we gave them possession too cheaply.

“I said to the lads, it’s a game of turnovers and if we can limit our turnovers, then we have a chance of winning the game. If we don’t and we keep giving them the ball away to good teams, then they can hurt you.

“The shot then takes a ricochet on the way in and I felt it was a bit of a sucker punch. We managed to get through to half-time and we managed to change one or two things.

“I didn’t think we were passing the ball forward enough in the first half and that’s because there weren’t enough options to pass the ball forwards.

“Tyrese (Francois), for example, was getting the ball and there weren’t enough options, so we changed that at half-time, we got Matt Smith on the field and he got into little areas to pass forward.

“What we also did was getting the eights and the wing-backs into better positions and the strikers, so they could pass forward, which made a big difference.

“We showed them at half-time what we wanted and to be fair to the boys, they went out and executed it in the second half.

“When you get done by a goal of that ilk, it does knock you, but the lads just need to believe, because they’re good footballers.

“You should see them in training, honestly it’s frightening, the attitude and application they show, which they take into games.

“In terms of the standards, it’s top drawer. It’s Championship standard because I see it on a daily basis.

“I just need them to believe in themselves a bit more in games because, if they do, they can more than match the best teams in this league – and we should have gone on to win it.”

For Stockport manager Dave Challinor, it was an all-too-familiar story of paying a high price for failing to take a game by the scruff of the neck.

“From the moment we scored, we went back to zero ambition to go on and win the game, and that isn’t a team I want to see,” he said.

“At the moment we either can’t do it or we don’t want to do it, and neither of those are acceptable. We probably got what we deserved based on the actions that we saw.

“I’ll take responsibility and accountability for that, I’ll make the changes that need to be made.

“And if that means players are out of the team and out of the club, unfortunately that is a consequence of that.

“My job is to make sure we are competitive and we improve year on year, and at the moment that’s not the case.”