Manchester United’s loanee Joe Hugill played an instrumental role for Wigan Athletic in his comeback to the starting line-up.
Nonetheless, his goal and assist were not enough to stop the Latics crashing out of the Vertu trophy at the hands of Chesterfield 3-2.
Hugill returned to the starting eleven for the first time since a home loss to Mansfield Town in October.
It was also the first time he played 90 minutes since a 4-0 victory over Bristol Rovers in September, where he scored two goals.
Despite no opportunities in November for the United Youth Cup winner, his boss Shaun Maloney has promised him more chances in December, due to the build up of games over the festive period.
Hugill was given a score of 7.3 on Sofascore for his night’s work as he scored one goal and provided an assist for his side.
The 21-year-old forward gave an assist in the 19th minute to draw his side level when he held the ball up well and released Callum McManaman who fired an effort into the bottom corner of the net.
Unfortunately for the Latics they conceded two more goals to go 3-1 down but Hugill added a late goal to give them hope.
In the 91st minute, he chased down a long punt and gathered control of the ball, putting himself one-on-one with the keeper. He struck the ball with his left foot, and despite the effort not being the cleanest of strikes, it had just enough on it to squirm under the Chesterfield keeper.
Hugill was heavily involved for his side having three shots on target and a further one off target.
Despite playing a key role in both goals, he did also miss two big chances for his side. He completed 83% of his passes but this has to be viewed in the context that he only made five out of six passing attempts and also had 20 touches of the ball.
Hugill also struggled in his duels as he won one out of his attempted five ground duels and lost all five of his aerial battles.
Nonetheless, the United man will be glad to get back on the scoresheet and he has now scored four goals in 13 games for the League One side and he will hope that there will now be plenty of opportunities around the corner for him heading into a hectic Christmas schedule.
Wigan will next be in action when they travel to Bolton Wanderers on Saturday afternoon.
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Alex Browne
Alex is a huge Manchester United fan, inspired by greats of his homeland such as George Best, Harry Gregg and Norman Whiteside. Proud owner of such niche shirts such as Kleberson, Eric Djemba-Djemba and Gary Neville. Grew up pretending to be Ruud van Nistelrooy and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer in the back garden, with little success.
