Man United loanee Joe Hugill struggles as Wigan Athletic beat Crawley in nervy 1-0 win | OneFootball

Manchester United loanee Joe Hugill was on the pitch for 77 minutes as his side, Wigan Athletic, beat Crawley.

The Latics got their Sky Bet League One campaign up and running by beating Crawley 1-0 at the Brick Community Stadium.

Thelo Aasgaard’s header from a Luke Chambers cross hit defender Joy Mukena on its way into the back of the net. As it turned out, this was all Wigan needed to clinch all three points.

Crawley fought hard and dominated for large parts of the second half but unfortunately, they couldn’t find a breakthrough and so had to settle for a loss.

Hugill was given the nod to lead the line by Wigan boss Shaun Maloney and had a chance to double Wigan’s lead but he fired over the top from a promising position.

The United loanee was eventually replaced by Chris Sze, who saw out the final stages of the match.

During the time he was in action, Hugill embarked on one dribble, which he completed successfully.

He registered 24 touches of the ball and successfully found his teammates with six of the 11 passes he attempted. He had an individual pass completion rate of 55%.

The Carrington academy graduate tried to ping two long balls and successfully connected on both occasions.

Hugill won three of the five ground duels he contested. He especially struggled in the air, where he lost six of the seven aerial duels he challenged for. This is undoubtedly an area of his game he will be keen to improve on as the season continues.

The 20-year-old will also be eager to be more of a threat going forward as he failed to get even one shot on target.

He made one clearance and as many tackles.

(Stats obtained from Sofascore)

After the final whistle, Maloney revealed that Hugill’s substitution was only a precautionary change.

There were fears of a lay-off but Maloney alleviated such concerns. He said, “Matt [Smith] just had cramp. We pressed so aggressively in the first half, and he got through a lot of work.”

“I knew I’d need Kai [Payne] today because of that…and it was the same with Joe Hugill.”

Wigan’s next assignment will see them travel to St Andrew’s to take on Birmingham City.

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