Cardiff City 1-1 Wigan Athletic: Keane earns last-gasp point for Latics

Wigan's equaliser denied Cardiff just a second league double over Wigan

Will Keane's dramatic late equaliser rescued a point for Wigan at Cardiff City as the worst attack in the Championship was held by the worst defence in a 1-1 draw in south Wales.

The Bluebirds went ahead with nine minutes remaining as Callum O'Dowda fired through a crowded penalty area.

However, Wigan rescued a vital point when Keane finished from close-range to earn the Latics a deserved point.

The draw means Cardiff are now winless in nine games.

The Bluebirds will be furious, having conceded so late, just as they did against Leeds in the FA Cup.

Despite scoring twice against Premier League Leeds United in the FA Cup, Cardiff came into this contest as the lowest scorers in the Championship, with only 20 goals in 26 games.

Therefore it came as a significant blow that their top goalscorer, Callum Robinson, was only fit enough to be on the bench after suffering with illness as they came up against the worse defence in the division.

The stakes were high for this one, even though the quality reflected the lowly league positions of both clubs.

Wigan boss Kolo Toure handed a debut to a former club record, £8m Cardiff signing, ex-England defender Steven Caulker, who has returned after four-and-a-half years playing in Turkey, in a bid to improve a backline that had conceded 46 goals in 26 game.

The stakes for this contest were extremely high in the Championship relegation battle, with bottom-club Wigan four points behind the Bluebirds, but possibly in better form, with their winless run just six games, as opposed to eight for Cardiff.

However, Wigan have failed to keep a clean sheet in any of their last 13 league games, the current longest run without a shutout in the Championship, with Toure's side conceding four times in each of their last three games.

However, a battle of a leaky defence versus a blunt attack did not produce anything of note in an tepid opening 30 minutes where the only real chance fell to Mark Harris, whose shot was easily saved by Ben Amos.

Cardiff should have gone ahead on 30 minutes, but Isaak Davies headed over from close-range after Sheyi Ojo's fine run and cross, before his long-range chip was turned over the bar by Amos.

The Latics did not trouble Cardiff until the 38th minute, but when they did, Callum Lang might have scored with a header that drifted inches wide of the post, while Jordan Cousins also fired over before the break.

Bluebirds boss Mark Hudson made three substitutions at the interval, but it was a Wigan substitute, Miguel Azeez who almost broke the deadlock on 55 minutes, but he could not find the net on the stretch as he fired over, before Will Keane's firm drive was saved by Ryan Allsop at the second attempt.

Wigan looked the more likely side to force a winner and Ashley Fletcher's shot on 71 minutes was well blocked by Allsop, but the Latics were made to pay for their missed chances.

Cardiff's opener arrived on 81 minutes as O'Dowda fired through a crowd after Jaden Philogene found him in space.

But the Bluebirds were denied what would have been a valuable win as Wigan piled on the pressure late-on and the pressure told when Keane applied a close-range finish as he reacted fastest to the loose ball.

Cardiff City boss Mark Hudson told BBC Sport Wales:

"It is very frustrating for us, regardless of the time added on - I'm not going to use that as an excuse - we have an opportunity to keep the ball twice in the corner and we didn't and then we don't defend our box.

"We have worked hard to break down a Wigan team that had come to frustrate. Decision-making cost us, ultimately. We should have managed the game, it is naïve.

"We got the goal, we broke them down and we should see it out… it looked like it would be a big afternoon for us.

"I think the boos (from Cardiff fans at full-time) were directed at the referee but if they are directed at anything else, that is something we need to deal with."

Wigan Athletic boss Kolo Toure said:

"Absolutely we deserved it. In the first half we dominated the game in my opinion and could have been more ruthless.

"Cardiff went on top of us a little bit right at the end of the game, but we showed out fighting spirit.

"I am pleased with the point, definitely. We are trying to build a team with a winning mentality.

"Bringing in players like Steven Caulker has helped us a lot, you can see that. We are working on more new signings, but the squad are doing well, we saw a solid performance, the boys are together."