Norwich boss Alex Neil admitted he was a relieved man after his side survived a late onslaught from Wigan to seal a 2-1 Championship win that moved the Canaries to within two points of top spot.
Jacob Murphy's first-half brace looked poised to set up an emphatic victory but Jordi Gomez pulled one back in the 72nd minute and Northern Ireland international Michael McGovern was then forced to make a superb close-range stop from Will Grigg deep in stoppage-time to clinch the victory.
Neil had set his side a six-point target from back-to-back home games against the Latics and Cardiff, and the Scot was delighted his squad could deliver.
"It wasn't a sigh of relief at the end because if anyone deserved to win it was us but at the end I was thinking, 'I am glad that is over,'" said Neil. "We needed to show our professionalism and we didn't do that as well as we can do at the end but what we did do was show a lot of heart and courage.
"I said to the boys we must target six points at the start of the week, we did that but there is still room for improvement and I am getting lads fitter all the time."
City did suffer two fresh injury concerns, with Alex Tettey and Ivo Pinto both withdrawn at the break. "Alex felt his hip in the warm-up but wanted to get through it. We don't know the extent of the damage on either yet," said Neil.
"Alex was making signals throughout the first half to the bench, but he managed to get to half-time.
"Ivo (Pinto) over-stretched going for the ball and everyone inside the ground could see that. He has damaged his groin. He wanted to play on but if he did he could be out for six weeks and that would be a disaster for us.
"I had Graham Dorrans, Alex Pritchard, Russell Martin and Youssouf Mulumbu all playing at the end and they are lads who have not had many minutes.
"Martin Olsson was just back as well and was starting to cramp. I thought Wes was giving the ball away too often. They were fatigued as the game wore on and that was a catalyst for them to be on top."
Latics' boss Gary Caldwell refused to blame goalkeeper Adam Bogdan, who was robbed by Murphy to concede a third-minute opener, after failing to control a back pass from Jake Buxton.
"The first goal I take responsibility for," he said. "I ask the lads to play like that and you are going to make mistakes at times and we got punished heavily for it but the mentality we showed to dominate the game and take it to a Premier League sized club, I was proud of them."
Source: PA-WIRE
