Conor Hourihane was ‘pretty annoyed’ with his players at half-time against Wigan but praised his substitutes in particular Charlie Lennon who scored a late equaliser on debut.

The visitors scored in the first half then Lennon levelled in the 95th minute.

Hourihane told the Chronicle: “I got pretty annoyed at half-time, to be honest with you. I expected so much more from the lads in terms of their appetite to want to go and win a game of football.

“I think Wigan had a clear gameplan, happy to sit in the back five and shuffle from side to side and make it challenging for us. Then when you give them a goal, it's even harder.

“But I think when a lot of the starters always get the plaudits, I want to give credit to the subs tonight because they've really come on and changed the outlook of the game for the last 35, 40 minutes.”

He added: “I probably don't have too much emotion about the draw, really. It's probably more the performance, if I'm being honest.

“The draw's neither here nor there. It's more an opportunity tonight at the start of two home games live on Sky. Can we play with energy and intensity and really play the way that we want to play? And I just felt the first half was really flat, to be honest.

“I didn't think we were quite there. The game against Mansfield, on a really heavy pitch, might have taken a little bit more out of a couple than I expected, potentially. I felt like it would be right to go with a similar sort of line-up. But it just wasn't there first half.”

January signing Lennon came on for his debut and netted on 95 minutes. Hourihane said: “Delighted for him. He's been really patient.

“He's come to see me a couple of times about. ‘What can I do more to try and get on the pitch?’ And I just said to him: ‘Look, a lot of the games since you've come to the club have been really tight. They've been one goal in it or a draw.’ And to gain that trust in him to bring him on the pitch just hasn't quite been there for him. He's worked really hard in training, always concentrating in meetings and knowing where to be.

“And it just shows tonight we obviously ask our opposite winger on be at the back stick. And lo and behold, there he is.

“So credit to him. He's had to be really patient.

“And hopefully now, he can build on that and get more minutes between now and the end of the season.”

Wigan’s goal came from a goalkeeper kick to Joe Taylor who got in between Luca Connell and Owen Goodman to score.

“The disappointing thing is we mentioned Taylor before the game and his pace. And it's a big up threat for him on the turnover of the ball.

“Luca, obviously, was last man from a set play. And obviously, there was a little bit of a mix-up between the two players trying to deal with the ball. It was just one of the moments that it didn't go for us. And we should do better in that moment, for sure.”

Captain Connell made several mistakes in the first half. Hourihane said: “Luca is experienced. He gets the game. You make mistakes.

“You have very good games. And he's well capable of shrugging things off pretty quickly.”

The Reds remain eight points off the top six.

Hourihane said: “We understand that we all want the play-off push.

“But at times, we need to realise – squad depth, the amount of games we have, and the challenges that we are up against us as well.

“Let's not lose sight of that.

“And when you have that mindset, trying to push up towards that, can it be unhelpful sometimes when you're constantly looking upwards?

“I don't think many people would fancy us to get in there. You've got nothing to lose, so just go for it.”