Report by John Patrick Heeley

Wigan Athletic slipped to fourth place in Division Two following yet another defeat, this time at the hands of Northampton Town at the Sixfields Stadium.

Bruce Rioch made no fewer than seven changes to the side that started against Peterborough United on Tuesday.

Returning from injury was Roy Carroll in goal and Darren Sheridan also reclaimed his place after serving a three match suspension.

Scott Green missed the match through suspension after picking up his fifth yellow card at Colchester.

The forward line was made up of Andy Liddell and Lee Ashcroft with the two Welshmen Simon Haworth and Neil Roberts demoted to the bench.

Goalscoring opportunities were few and far between for the majority of the first half but Northampton's leading scorer Jamie Forrester could have given his side an early lead when he fired straight at Roy Carroll from the edge of the penalty area with only three minutes on the clock.

Wigan's only real chance of the half fell to Lee Ashcroft in the 41st minute when he beat central defender Richard Green and fired in a low shot, but Cobblers' keeper Keith Welch pulled off a good save to deny the Wigan striker.

Moments later Ashcroft picked up an injury which resulted in him being stretchered off the field. He returned but was replaced by Simon Haworth during the half time interval.

Northampton got the winning goal in stoppage time when John Frain slid the ball to JAMIE FORRESTER twenty yards out.

Forrester then beat two defenders before slotting the ball through Roy Carroll's legs and into the back of the net from 10 yards.

HALF TIME: Northampton 1 Wigan 0

Wigan came out for the second period chasing the game and dominated play for most of the half but goalscoring chances were again in short supply.

Simon Haworth fired a shot narrowily wide from 20 yards out before substitute Neil Roberts went close to equalising with two efforts.

Firstly, he shot inches wide of Welch's right hand post after carving his way through the Northampton defence.

Then Roberts was denied by Welch but his shot wasn't struck all that well as he lost his balance as he took it.

Northampton's only clear cut chance of the half came from Marco Gabbiadini who latched onto a ball in his own half before going on a solo run covering half the length of the pitch, but his effort was sent well wide, and was a bit of an anti-climax after his superb run.

With second ticking away Andy Liddell went close to repeating the wonder goal that won the game against Northampton at the JJB Stadium.

He hit a rocket shot from over 20 yards out which had the top corner of the net written all over it but Welch somehow managed to get his fingertips to it at full stretch and tipped it over the bar for a corner.