Korey's first goal joy tempered by draw
Korey Smith admitted Saturday's FA Cup with Budweiser, second-round tie against Mansfield Town was bitter-sweet.The joy of Smith scoring his long-awaited first goal for Latics was tempered by Latics' failure to beat the Stags at Boundary Park.
Smith (pictured celebrating his goal on Saturday) said: "It was nice for me to get a goal but, at the end of the day, I wanted to win the game and that is the disappointing thing.
"The main thing, however, is that we are still in the draw for the next round and hopefully we can go to Mansfield and win."
Smith also spoke of the relief of scoring his first goal for Latics in his 35th appearance for the club.
He explained: "I have had a few chances this year - hit the post, had one cleared off the line and quite a few efforts - so it was a great feeling to see that one go in. And hopefully there will be a few more to follow.
"It was good that the goal gave us the lead and it was just a shame we didn't hold on to it."
Smith admitted that Latics were not at their best, but also gave credit to Mansfield.
He continued: "We believe we are better than our performance against Mansfield.
"A lot of clubs have seen what a good team we are and, whereas before they would come here looking for a win, now they come and put players behind the ball.
"They sit in and look to play on the counter attack which is a credit to how we have done in the last few months.
"We have to adapt our game and the fans need to be patient and hopefully we can learn how to break teams down.
"We remain positive as we are still in the cup, eight games unbeaten and if we maintain that sort of form throughout the season we will do well."