Town chief sets sights on milestone triumph

The Latics, current FA Cup holders, have made a steady start to life back in the Championship following relegation last May.

Europa League demands have undoubtedly played a part in that, with weekend games having to be moved to Sundays and a group including teams from Russia, Slovenia and Belgium bringing plenty of travelling.

Robins, though, was at the midweek goalless draw with Queens Park Rangers at the DW Stadium so appreciates Town are in for a tough encounter.

He said: “I have watched them a lot recently and they have been playing well; they have dangerous players all over the pitch.

“Nick Powell is an outstanding player and they have a nucleus of players who have played at a higher level. We will need to be at our very best to get anything out of the game.

“The players are in good spirits and why not? We had a great victory over our local rivals and are taking on a team this Saturday who are doing well in the Europa League and played in the Premier League last season.”

Town’s attack is again likely to be led by Jon Stead, who broke his scoring duck for the season in last week’s 3-2 win over Leeds United.

Robins added: “He led the line very well against Leeds, but this will be a different challenge for him.

“Wigan are a different type of team compared to Leeds and we will need to work out how to get the best out of Jon.

“He will put a shift in for us, he always does. And he has shown that he is capable of scoring. We need to get him into a rhythm and on the back of his Leeds display he deserves to play against Wigan.”

As for his squad, Robins added: “Training has been vibrant this week and the place is buzzing ahead of a historic fixture in the club’s history.

“We want to reinforce last week’s win with a good result.

“Prior to the Leeds game we had been playing well but not picking up points, and it was important that we changed that last Saturday.”