Report from www.wiganlatics.co.uk

A late Simon Haworth strike stretched Latics’ unbeaten run to seven matches with a tie against Mansfield.

The reserves last lost back in early October but were forced to survive a mighty scare despite dominating most of the game.

The first half deservedly ended honours even after neither side created too much in the way of clear-cut chances.

Latics opened the scoring after 25 minutes when Paul Dalglish sent a through ball down the channel for Haworth to spring the offside trap and hone in on goal.

His shot was well saved but rebounded straight to the feet of Neil Roberts, who smashed the ball into the roof of the net with a tremendous right-footed strike.

Chris Lynch had a chance of glory five minutes later after neat interplay involving first team stars Dalglish, Roberts and Haworth but the shot failed to live up to the approach work.

Seconds later, Mansfield punished the wasted opportunity by drawing level through a penalty.

Michael Sisson’s surge into the box was abruptly halted by Wigan goalkeeper Ryan Yeoman, who had no chance of saving an excellent spot kick from Town’s David Rew.

Latics continued to push forward and Dalglish again sent Howarth down the right flank but his cut-back was wasted by Roberts.

And the roles were reversed soon afterwards as Roberts’ ball to Haworth was struck weakly towards the ‘keeper.

The home side were lucky to survive a scare early in the second half as Shayne Bradley’s strike drifted just over the bar from inside the box.

But the majority of the second period was dominate by Latics, as a succession of half-chances were left unconverted.

Haworth had the better of the goalmouth opportunities and saw his rifled effort tipped inches over the bar by Town ‘keeper Michael Bingham.

A clever ball from Roberts after 62 minutes sent Howarth racing towards the box once more only for his low driving strike to be well gathered by Bingham.

Greg Traynor also saw his shot fire wide before Mansfield struck a sickening blow on the counter attack. Andy White’s flick sent Bradley bustling into the box and his chip looped over the head of the advancing Yeoman and dipped into the net.

But Latics weren’t done yet and after a strong charge from Ian Kilford had forced a corner, a Paul Mitchell overhead kick was forced home by Haworth with just four minutes remaining to clinch a share of the spoils.