Sheffield Wednesday manager Garry Monk demanded more “tempo and urgency” despite recording his first home win since taking charge after Massimo Luongo scored the only goal of a 1-0 victory against Wigan.
The goal came when a Kadeem Harris cross posed problems for the defence and Adam Reach pulled the ball back for Luongo to find the net with a shot from inside the area on his full league debut for the Owls.
Monk said: “I’m pleased to have the three points and a clean sheet going into the international break.
“After Hull, it’s important as a team you’re able to respond and get a positive result when you’ve suffered a setback. We have to be pleased with that.
“It was a very good goal – well-worked. In terms of the game itself, I think the problem in the first half for us was that structurally we were fine and it was good but I felt that we weren’t playing with that tempo and urgency we needed.
“We were at home, so we needed to show more urgency. It was much improved in the second half. We managed to score a good goal and saw the game out well.
“The lesson from that – as I said to the players – is that you have to up that tempo and urgency. When it’s a difficult game and there are stoppages in play, we need to be the ones that show the tempo and urgency to do it.”
Wigan boss Paul Cook said: “I didn’t think it was a great game, if I’m being truthful.
“There were very few clear-cut chances. As an away team, did we deserve a point? I felt we did, but unfortunately goals change games.
“The league is what it is and every game is tough. It’s demanding and the margins between winning and losing can be quite fine sometimes and that’s something we’ve got to master if we want to be better.
“The margins are small and you just keep going. Sometimes the quality of players on the pitch is huge.
“This season it’s been stop-start, really, apart from the Leeds result at home when we lost 2-0 and had a man sent off after 10 minutes.
“There are plenty of teams in the division who expect to get out of the division and are below us in the league, so I think you’ve got to manage your own expectations sometimes.”
