The Latics put in another inept performance at Boundary Park as they were defeated 2-1 by an equally lack-lustre Shrewsbury Town on New Year's Day. Manager Lee Johnson blamed bad luck for the poor performance but the truth of the matter is that the team keep slipping up at home to low lying teams, a worrying fact as the club slip closer and closer to the relegation zone after going six league games without a win.
Johnson said, “You can talk about performances until you are blue in the face but I didn’t think this was that bad. We had some very good chances, some serious waves of attack, the lion’s share of possession — and none of the luck. We had some really good opportunities and had you watched the highlights you would wonder how we had lost and they had won. That is the luck we are getting at the moment. It’s a disappointing result. What can you do now but try to bounce back — after two very good performances? I don’t know why we keep making these silly mistakes. It is not even tactical. It is individual errors and very disappointing for me, because it’s something you can’t legislate for.”