Huddersfield Town 2 Wigan Athletic 1 - Saturday 24th October 2026

Latics woes continue

Report by John Patrick Heeley

Huddersfield Town returned to the top of Sky Bet League One after securing a hard-fought 2–1 victory over Wigan Athletic, leaving the Latics yet again empty-handed despite a late rally at the Accu Stadium.

Goals from Ilias Bronkhorst and Derensili Sanches Fernandes secured a third consecutive win for the home side, while Christian Saydee's late consolation proved insufficient to rescue anything for Wigan.

Huddersfield started brightly and almost took the lead inside the opening five minutes when Cameron Humphreys delivered a dangerous corner.

James Carragher got a touch but could only direct the ball towards his own goal, with the crossbar coming to Wigan's rescue.

Latics arrived with a different tactical approach, deploying a deep five-man defensive line and looking to frustrate the home side.

Huddersfield initially struggled to find a way through, but gradually established control and began to put Gary Caldwell's side under sustained pressure.

Joe Whitworth was called into action with a double save following a corner. He first denied Seán Roughan's header before reacting quickly to keep out Joe Low's follow-up effort.

The breakthrough finally arrived in the 34th minute. Bali Mumba found Humphreys making an intelligent underlapping run, and the Huddersfield captain delivered an inviting ball towards the far post.

Bronkhorst timed his run perfectly to power a header beyond Whitworth, scoring for the second consecutive game.

Wigan made three substitutions during the opening 15 minutes of the second half in an attempt to change the momentum and inject greater attacking impetus into their game.

Latics enjoyed spells of possession and looked more threatening, but Huddersfield remained organised and continued to pose a danger on the counter-attack.

Matty Young produced an important save to deny Christian Saydee from distance, keeping the Terriers in front as Wigan searched for an equaliser.

With ten minutes remaining, Huddersfield delivered what looked to be the decisive blow. Marcus Harness played an excellent through ball into the path of Derensili Sanches Fernandes, who drove into the penalty area, shifted the ball onto his left foot and calmly slotted home to make it 2–0.

Saydee gave Wigan a glimmer of hope in the closing moments, curling an excellent effort into the far corner, but there was insufficient time for Wigan to find another goal.

Huddersfield held on to claim all three points and complete an impressive three victories in eight days.

For Wigan, it was another frustrating afternoon as their struggles continue, seemingly stranded, at the foot of the table.

Gary Caldwell was understandably disappointed with the result and felt his side had missed a significant opportunity to take something from the game and believed his side started positively but lost their way as the first half progressed.

He said: "I thought we started the game the better, for the first 20 minutes, but as the game went on, we were a bit less convincing in how we wanted to play."

He continued: "In the second half I thought we were the better team, we had a go without really creating enough, and we weren't good enough in the final third. I don't think we made Huddersfield do enough to win, we gifted them the win when I felt they were there for the taking."