Wigan will improve - Roberts

Jason Roberts insists there is more to come from Wigan after giving champions Chelsea the fright of their lives yesterday.

Striker Roberts was among those left stunned and heartbroken by Hernan Crespo’s winner in the third minute of injury time at the JJB Stadium.

The 20-yard special curled into the top right-hand corner denied the Premiership new-boys a point that would have been richly deserved on their bow in the top flight.

After 90 industrious minutes full of enterprise and rich promise, not to mention a fair sprinkling of skill, Wigan were then introduced to the harsh realities of football amongst English football’s elite.

From nothing, and after a performance unbecoming of the new kings of the Premiership, Argentinian striker Crespo conjured up a divine moment of inspiration to give the Blues and manager Jose Mourinho three unlikely points.

Roberts described the moment as “a killer”, and could find little consolation in such a galling defeat that will hopefully have been forgotten about come their next match against Charlton on Saturday.

“We’ve been talking about trying to take positives from this game, but it’s difficult after everyone worked really hard to end up with nothing,” said a reflective Roberts.

“After something like that, it’s normal for players to be so disappointed, and all we can do is try and look forward to the next game and perform just as we did in this one.

“If we can replicate this performance for the rest of the season then we will be okay, but that’s the challenge ahead of us. At least we have showed that we have what it takes to stay in this league.”

Mourinho laid into his players during the half-time interval, warning his stars their places were on the line if they continued to perform with the kind of ineptitude that gave Wigan the edge during an opening 45 minutes in which they could have been two goals up.

The Portuguese boss conceded he could not tell the difference between his champions and the Championship runners-up of last season, although that was scant consolation for Roberts.

“It’s always nice to hear something like that from the great man, but we’re all still very disappointed and that’s football,” added Roberts.

“We just have to make sure we play like that every week, which is going to be tough because we had to run a lot and work hard.

“We know they’re a great team and they don’t come any better than that, but we have to make sure we play like that all the time, and not just against the big boys.

“We closed them down, we harrassed them and didn’t allow them to settle. Maybe that’s the only positive we can take.

“The one disappointment is that we were in some good attacking situations and we didn’t make good use of them. Hopefully that will come.

“There were obviously some new players in the team getting used to each other, which means there’s still a lot more to come from us.”

Roberts was in tandem with a new striker in Henri Camara, a £3.1m (€4.4m) record buy from Wolves last week, and the Senegalese looked lively if not a little short of match fitness as he tired towards the end.

Roberts is naturally disappointed to have lost long-time partner Nathan Ellington, who today completed his move to West Brom.

“Henri’s a good player and it looks good for us so far, but I’m very disappointed with Nathan’s situation,” added Roberts.

“I’m really disappointed he’s gone, not only as a footballer but as a guy. We’re best friends and I’m going to miss him, but that’s the way it goes.

“We have to try and move on, but I wish him all the best.”

REF’S REPORT Such was the clean manner in which this match was played, Mark Clattenburg awarded just the one booking to Alan Mahon late in the first half for a clumsy tackle on Arjen Robben. Did miss a clear handball in the second period, though, when Gary Teale blocked an Asier del Horno cross on the edge of the area He indicated he felt it was ball to hand.

FUSSY FACTOR Clattenburg is unlikely to enjoy a more trouble-free game than this one this season.