Joe Hugill, a Manchester United player, made a dismal return to action for Wigan Athletic against Mansfield Town Friday night.
A 1-2 loss at home will be extremely difficult to accept, given that the Lactics had 22 shots to the visiting team’s four and 66% possession.
The United youth product had a promising start at the DW Stadium, scoring three goals in his first few months, but he sustained an injury at the end of September that has kept him out of action for the past three games.
Last night’s loss to Mansfield was his first game back in around a month, but it didn’t go as planned when he was pulled off after 45 minutes.
He received a score of 6.4 on Sofascore because he struggled to participate.
Hugill had two unlucky moments in the first half. The first occurred when he was open in the penalty area to unleash a close range effort, but his colleague Dion Rankine foolishly failed to square the ball and blasted straight at the Mansfield goalkeeper.
The United striker was also enraged when he was not given a penalty following an apparent shirt rip.
A long-range free kick from Thelo Aasgaard was parried directly into the path of
Hugill was definitely hauled back by the other side’s defender, but no penalty was awarded.
Aside from terrible luck and questionable refereeing, Hugill failed to capitalize on any additional opportunities he was afforded, with only one shot stopped during the half. He barely had nine touches and completed two of three passes, demonstrating how little he was involved in the buildup play.
Hugill was likewise poor in duels, winning 33% of his ground engagements and only 20% of his aerial battles.
To be fair to the 21-year-old, he will need time to get back in the swing of things after his injury hiatus, and he will hope that Wigan can get another start when they visit to Blackpool next Monday.
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