Wigan Athletic boss Owen Coyle claims Nick Powell was ‘terrific’ in his debut against Ipswich yesterday – but promised the best is yet to come from the 19-year-old.
Coyle praised Manchester United loanee Powell after their 2-0 victory against Ipswich Town yesterday.
Powell’s first-half corner led to Ryan Shotton opening the scoring on his home debut, before wrapping up the three points in injury time with a cool finish on his home bow.
Coyle told the club website: “I thought Nick was terrific, and there’s still more to come from that lad; his fitness isn’t quite up to full speed just yet but he’s already bringing great ability to the team.
“He’s made the first goal, scored one himself and almost got another with the free kick we had worked on in training, together with his quality on the ball and movement around the pitch.”
Coyle also heaped praise on the rest of his team for the way they responded following a demanding game against Zulte Waregem in Bruges on Thursday night
“I couldn’t have asked any more from the players today. The group was largely made up of those who played in Belgium on Thursday night, had very little recovery and were up against an Ipswich side who had won their previous two games,” he said.
“There were periods when we had to stand up and be counted for, but Scott Carson made some outstanding saves during the game and Ipswich could probably feel unfortunate not to have come away with some kind of a result.
“The entire backline answered everything that was asked of them, and at the other end we probably should have added to our tally before Nick’s goal.
“James McClean, who was outstanding, had a couple of efforts, Thomas Rogne should have scored at the back post, James McArthur had a great chance on his left foot and Chris McCann was unlucky to see his shot saved as well.
“But overall we’ve claimed three valuable points in a season when we’re going to be behind the rest of the pack in terms of games played for much of the time and dealing with the incredibly busy fixture schedule.”
The Latics made four changes from the team that earned a creditable draw again Zulte.
With Shaun Maloney and Marc-Antoine Fortune ruled out through injury, the manager had some tough decisions to make. Stephen Crainey, Emmerson Boyce, Chris McCann and Jordi Gomez all missed out.
“We made that decision for the welfare of Emmerson; he’s started the last two games and although ideally he would have been rested on Thursday I thought it was important that he was captain on such a historic night for everything he’s been through with the club, so today was purely about looking after him,” Coyle said.
“Marc-Antoine felt his hamstring tweak a little when he came off the bench on Thursday, and although he was desperate to play we gave him a late test and he confirmed that it didn’t feel quite right, but hopefully he’ll be back soon.
“As for Shaun, he’s not been right since he got back from international duties; he felt as though he tweaked his back whilst he was away and we probably saw that he wasn’t quite himself against Leicester last weekend.
“A scan revealed that something wasn’t quite right and he’ll see a specialist next week to discover the full extent of the injury.”
The victory, which sees Wigan keep their unbeaten home record this season intact, means the Latics move up to 11th place in the table.
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