As Wigan Athletic slide ever closer to relegation, manager Malky Mackay has bemoaned the injury plight affecting his first team squad.
The 2013 FA Cup winners have endured a horrendous campaign in the Championship, which includes the dismissal of Uwe Rosler and the controversial appointment of Mackay. The former Cardiff City boss has been unable to bring around an upturn in fortunes at the DW Stadium club, though, and they have now gone 13 matches without a win following a 3-0 home loss to Charlton Athletic.
This result means the Latics remain six points adrift of safety, a situation which could worsen as the weekend progresses with the teams around them all set to play. Mackay knows he now faces an uphill battle to avoid relegation into the third-tier, but he believes his plight wouldn’t be quite so bad were it not for the number of injuries he has had to contend with since arriving in Lancashire.
“I don’t think I’ve ever seen it at a football club as a player or manager, the amount of illness and injury in a short period of time,” he said. “Starting with Grant Holt’s cruciate, Emyr Huws’ ankle, Juan Carlos contracting leukaemia and now Chris Herd (knee), William Kvist (hamstring) and Leon Clarke (spine) coming off like that. It’s not something that’s easy because you don’t easily replace key players.”
