Fleetwood Town 1 Wigan Athletic 0: Cod Army claim Carabao Cup victory

The home side started the game brightly, determined to pick up where they left off after Saturday’s last-gasp win against Plymouth Argyle.

Shaun Rooney played a good ball through to Garner in the first few minutes but the forward was just edged out of it.

Rooney was lively in the opening stages but was pegged back by referee Michael Salisbury for an innocuous-looking challenge on 10 minutes.

The visitors, roared on by a large following who had made the short trip, then should have taken the lead.

Thelo Aasgaard chased a lost cause and caught Fleetwood napping, pulling the ball back for Stephen Humphrys who would have scored but for a fine smothering save by Jay Lynch.

Humphrys had another shot deflected moments later but, apart from those efforts, Fleetwood were matching – if not bettering – the Championship side and Wigan looked prone to mistakes.

Tom Pearce gifted the ball to Garner, who had a long-range effort blocked before he broke the deadlock.

Toto Nsiala helped the ball goalwards and the striker reacted quickest to nod home from close range in front of the travelling fans.

Carl Johnston went close to putting Town two up, latching onto a Rooney cross from the right but seeing his shot deflected over the bar.

Fleetwood had been good value for their first-half advantage and pushed again early in the second.

Danny Andrew curled an effort off the inside of the far post with the ball then flashing across the face of goal.

However, the angle was too acute by the time Harvey Macadam knocked his effort into the side-netting.

Humphrys again went close for Wigan from the edge of the area before they began to step up a gear around the hour mark with the home defence showing signs of creaking.

Lynch parried away Humphrys’ free-kick parried away by Lynch and, shortly afterwards, Graeme Shinnie skipped past a couple of Fleetwood players but drove his effort wide of the target.

The Cod Army knew they would have to stand firm and they did just that with Nsiala proving particularly effective in quelling the Wigan forwards.

Andrew almost put the icing on the cake but his free-kick just didn’t quite have enough dip on it to sneak under Jamie Jones’ bar at the Memorial End.

As the sun began to set behind that stand, it failed to go down on Fleetwood’s evening as they made it two wins in a row.

The draw for the next round of the competition will take place tomorrow evening, live on Sky Sports following the tie between Sheffield Wednesday and Sunderland.

Fleetwood Town: Lynch, Andrew, Vela, G Garner (J Garner 79), Hayes (Lane 79), Nsiala, Batty (White 89), Rooney, Macadam (Wiredu 72), Johnston, Earl. Subs not used: Cairns, Harrison, Morton, Holgate, Edwards.

Wigan Athletic: Jones, Nyambe (Lloyd 71), Pearce, Shinnie, Aasgaard, Carragher, Hughes, Smith, Humphrys, Brennan (Stones 89), McHugh (Adeeko 45). Subs not used: Mooney, Sze, Chentouf, Adams.

Referee: Michael Salisbury.