Absence of Jean-Kevin Augustin is the talking point for Leeds United as Wigan spoil the party again

Jean-Kevin Augustin may arrived in Leeds amid a welter of fanfare earlier this week, but earning a spot in Marcelo Bielsa's matchday plans is another thing entirely.

The United head coach has always ploughed his own furrow and been very much his own man. Leeds's attacking arsenal is not exactly brimful and overflowing, but the Argentine deemed that the Frenchman's involvement must wait while he gets up to speed and fully versed with what he demands from those in white jerseys.

Which is quite a lot.

But on a scruffy, unkempt sort of day when the windy conditions made life tricky at times and against opponents who aimed to stifle Leeds and break up play with regular stoppages, complete with a five-man regimented backline and three midfielders whose primary role was containment, his absence sat tongues wagging.

It was the sort of game where from an early juncture, you suspected that one moment of quality and incision might just be decisive.

It never arrived from United. Pockets of ingenuity and neat inter-play arrived, but there was no devilment and destruction in the business zone, with Wigan being the ones satisfied at the interval.

Litter was strewn across the pitch and it proved a metaphor for a game in which Leeds teased at times, but were a fair way from their best.

After the midweek comeback party, here was a bit of a hangover, intensified when Joe Williams's deflected corner settled the contest just before the hour.

Following their Good Friday stunner, Wigan proved massive party-poopers again. And all this as Augustin watched on.

Wigan have won three out of their 39 away trips in all competitions. Two of them have been at Elland Road, with their defensive resolution outstanding on the day.

David Marshall, who would have been expecting to be far busier, was forced into a couple of decent blocks in the first half to deny Patrick Bamford, but they were relatively standard.

The closest that Leeds came was when Gjanni Alioski - set up by a sweet crossfield pass from Pablo Hernandez - found Jack Harrison, who showed dancing feet to cut inside and strike a low and true shot against the post early on.

Harrison would go close again on 33 minutes when a lovely cross from Bamford picked him out at the back post, but he couldn't get a clean connection as he attempted to improvise a back-heel and give Leeds a relieving lead.

At the other end, as most would have suspected, Wigan's raids were infrequent, with their best moment when Sam Morsy showed enterprise to surge forward with his strike from distance beaten away, not too convincingly, by Kiko Casilla.

Still, attacking the Gelderd End on the resumption, there was reason to believe that Leeds would eventually wear down Leeds and find a way through.

The first significant action was not reassuringly, with Bamford, perhaps taken by surprise, glancing a header meekly wide after a deep Costa cross bypassed the Wigan defence and gravitated towards him.

The sight of Wigan taking the lead out of nowhere was an even more serious development, when Williams's inswinging corner, with the aid of a deflection, looped in at the far post.

It was turning into one of those maddening days, reinforced when Bamford couldn't get a clean connection and was off beam again from Harrison's cross.

All the while, Wigan got a tad more assertive, perhaps aware of the angst among the crowd, with Morsy's low shot grasped by Casilla.

Bamford's difficult day in comparison to midweek then continued as he saw his header blocked after an exquisite cross from Harrison.

Perseverance was the key, with more stout Wigan defending then getting in the way of Roberts' goalbound effort.

A bad day almost become considerably worse when a counter saw Kieffer Moore briefly in on goal after a superb defence-splitting pass from the impressive Morsy, but Ben White saved the day with a timely challenge.

Another key last-ditch intervention from Dallas kept Leeds in the game, with the midfielder tracking back after his initial error to deny ex-Leeds player Tom Pearce a memorable return to Elland Road on his Latics debut - after the visitors raced clear on the counter following a Leeds corner.

It just had to be Wigan. Again.

Leeds United: Casilla; Ayling, White, Cooper; Hernandez, Dallas, Klich, Alioski (T Roberts 64); Costa, Bamford, Harrison. Substitutes unused: Meslier, Poveda, Berardi, Shackleton, Stevens, Casey.

Wigan Athletic: Marshall: Byrne, Kipre, Dunkley, Naismith, Pearce (Jacobs 84); Morsy, Williams, Evans; Massey (Lowe 69), Moore. Substitutes unused: Jones, MacLeod, Garner, G Roberts, Gelhardt.

Referee: T Harrington (Cleveland).

Attendance: 35,162.