Boss Jon Brady admitted Northampton paid a high price for a dismal first half when they were ‘still on the coach’ following their 2-1 League One defeat at Wigan.
Boosted by their weekend win at Barnsley, Wigan flew out of the traps and should have been well out of sight by the interval.
Thelo Aasgaard and Jonny Smith put them 2-0 up inside 18 minutes, with Silko Thomas, Dale Taylor and Jensen Weir all firing just off target and the latter seeing another effort cleared off the line.
It was a different story after the break, with the half-time introduction of striker Tom Eaves boosting the injury-hit Cobblers.
Eaves halved the deficit 11 minutes after the restart and only the heroics of Wigan goalkeeper Sam Tickle ensured the home side ran out narrow winners.
Brady said: “In the first half I thought we were still on the coach.
“Obviously it’s been a long journey but there’s no excuses, we were very lacklustre and we were second to everything – and they’re 2-0 up in no time.
“We made the change at half-time and put Tom on and it added a lot of energy to us and gave us a focal point up top.
“We went for it right at the end, Liam McCarron has a one-on-one and Sam Tickle makes another unbelievable save from Sam Hoskins in stoppage time.
“We gave a good account of ourselves in the second half but we gave ourselves too much to do with how we played in the first half.
“It’s not like we can rotate or refresh because we’re so thin on the ground it’s untrue and that’s where we’re at.
“We’re having some tough luck at the moment so we have to take any positives we can get.”
Wigan boss Shaun Maloney had mixed emotions after the game.
He said: “I loved the way we played in the first half, it’s as good as any performance we’ve had.
“The only criticism I’d have would be we didn’t kill off the game and when you don’t do that you’re always leaving yourself open to what happened in the second half.
“They’ve got some good players, and are a big threat when the ball goes into the box, and you never feel comfortable because there could always be a deflection or a ricochet.
“The momentum of the game definitely shifted and we couldn’t quite manage to get the third goal that would have killed it.
“At the moment I don’t know whether to be really, really happy with the performance of the players or really mad at not killing the game off in the first half.”
On his young goalkeeper, Maloney added: “I don’t know how often I’m going to have to say it about my goalkeeper but if there’s a shot that needs to be saved, there isn’t anyone I’d want to be there.
“He’s that good and I wish we hadn’t needed him again tonight but we did and he always produces for us.
“At Barnsley he didn’t have a massive amount to do, apart from coming to collect crosses.
“There’s been other games where he’s been a lot busier but that’s football. That’s why you want brilliant players in your team.
“Sam’s a brilliant shot-stopper. Ideally we don’t need him that often but when we do we know he’ll produce moments of brilliance like that.”
