League One & League Two round-up: Managerless Wigan slip into further relegation trouble

Four games took place on Tuesday night across League One and Two with interesting results most notably at the bottom of League One.

Cambridge United jumped into third in the League Two table with a convincing victory away at Crawley Town and Shrewsbury managed to win a relegation six pointer at home to Barrow.

Elsewhere in League One, a managerless Wigan hosted Reading and Mansfield Town lost their nine-game unbeaten run at home to Peterborough United.

Here is the full round-up of Tuesday’s action.

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Mansfield Town 1-2 Peterborough United

Regan Hendry fired inches over while Luke Bolton was denied twice by Alex Bass, who also saved well from Frazer Blake-Tracy in the opening period.

Posh’s only first half-chance was a 15th minute breakaway which ended with Morgan shooting fractionally wide.

Against the run of play, Peterborough scored the opener from a 54th-minute counter attack.

Peterborough broke quickly and Cian Hayes pulled back a low ball for Morgan to drive into the top-right corner.

It was 2-0 13 minutes later when Blake-Tracy gifted the ball to Brandon Khela on the edge of his own box and he set up Leonard to score from 12 yards.

Bass made two more good saves to deny Bolton and Rhys Oates, but was finally beaten after 84 minutes as David Okagbue blocked an Oates shot and Abbott tucked home the loose ball.

But Bass earned his side victory with a crucial stoppage-time save to deny Deji Oshilaja from close range.

Leam Richardson got one over on his former club
(Bradley Collyer/PA)

Wigan Athletic 1-2 Reading

The home side started the brighter and had the ball in the net inside four minutes, but the offside flag was up before Harrison Bettoni fired home from a tight angle.

Bettoni then shot wide from a good position after Matt Smith’s clever pass, with Callum Wright fizzing a shot over the bar from 20 yards.

At the other end, it needed three Wigan blocks in quick succession to keep Reading at bay.

Having edged the first half, Wigan fell behind within four minutes of the restart when a totally unmarked Jeriel Dorsett headed home from close range.

The home side’s response was to throw on strikers Joe Taylor and Dara Costelloe for the last half an hour.

And it was Taylor who nodded Wigan level with 23 minutes remaining from Fraser Murray’s left-wing cross.

Another substitute, Raphael Borges Rodrigues, saw a shot helped round the post by Joel Pereira as Wigan pushed for a winner.

But Reading regained the lead four minutes from time when Paudie O’Connor headed home a right-wing free-kick from six yards.

Crawley Town 0-3 Cambridge United

Striker Danilo Orsi came close to giving Crawley the lead after only 59 seconds but his low shot was blocked by the legs of goalkeeper Jake Eastwood.

Harry McKirdy headed an Orsi cross wide before unmarked midfielder McLoughlin put Cambridge in front just before the break by slotting in a James Gibbons cross at the back post.

Pelly Ruddock Mpanzu should have doubled the advantage four minutes after the interval but shot straight at keeper Jacob Chapman.

Crawley defender Josh Flint headed a Kellan Gordon cross just wide before substitute Dominic Ball blazed wide at the other end.

Substitute Kaikai made the game safe for Cambridge 15 minutes from time in a swift counter attack, tucking in Shayne Lavery’s assist at close range in front of the travelling fans.

And Kaikai added the third in the last minute of stoppage time to complete a straightforward victory.

Shrewsbury Town 2-1 Barrow

Gavin Cowan, who replaced Michael Appleton, had overseen two winless games since his arrival from Brackley.

But he and Shrewsbury made it third time lucky in this first home league meeting with Barrow since 1969.

Danny Rose hit the crossbar for the Bluebirds in the opening half while Charlie McCann saw a shot saved by Matthew Cox.

Bluebirds boss Paul Gallagher, yet to mastermind a win since becoming permanent successor to Andy Whing, made a double substitution for the second period.

But Barrow immediately conceded a free-kick and a minute later Scully stole in at the far post to net his fifth goal of the season.

Hoole doubled the lead seven minutes later and though substitute Tyler Walker pulled a goal back – his first since last August – Shrewsbury held on for a first win in five.

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