Editors Blog: Not Losing Focus

When you look back at the start of our season on that Saturday afternoon against Barnsley and look at where we are now, then you would probably say where we started is relative to where we are now. However in between all that has been a mess of a managerial spell of Owen Coyle, the failure to get out of the Europa League group and poor league form; before the start of the Uwe Rosler reign with the rising up the table and the challenge to retain the FA Cup going to the Semi Final.

It has been very much a mixed bag this season, yet overall one I think we should be proud of. We managed to challenge very well in Europe and had we a better manager than Coyle I think we would have made it out of the group stages. Since then coupled with our disastrous league form, Uwe Rosler came in and completely undid the wrongs of the Coyle era.

That is not to say Coyle did all wrong, I think his signings bar one were fantastic. However lack of discipline and training led to the team become sluggish and out of touch with the rest of the league. After that the priority for me was get the lads playing again and make sure we don't slip out of the Championship.

Such as been the form under Rosler that I think we all sort the focus as promotion now when in fact, after the catalogue of games we have been playing, I would say what Rosler has done was the main aim. Get the fans and players believing in Wigan again.

That isn't to say we shouldn't go for the play-off win, in fact I think losing the FA Cup Semi Final could be the best thing for us now to win the play-offs, its more the fact that we have well excelled what we could have hoped for after the period of five months when Coyle was in charge.

Now though with the distraction of the FA Cup gone and five games left to go in the league, all we can hope for is the lads to do their best and get that hunger for more glory. Rosler being the coach he is I can see inspiring the lads now, we have shown in the FA Cup that on our day this is a Premier League team, now we have to do the hard work and get back to where we belong.

Winning games is all that matters now and just taking it one step at a time and beating whoever is in front of us is all the lads can do. Starting with the important matter of beating Reading on Friday. We may have played 120 minutes on Saturday, but the Royals faced Leicester on Monday and will have less time to recover. After a season of now 54 games, an full week of rest is something the players must have been dying for.

The hope and focus now for everyone has to be going and getting three points on Good Friday.