Cheltenham Town were held to a 1-1 draw by Wigan Athletic at the Completely-Suzuki Stadium in League One action.

Liam Sercombe’s penalty in the 32^nd minute brought the Robins level after the visitors took the lead early through an own goal.

Chances came and went for the Robins but goalkeeper Luke Southwood made an all-important penalty save in the second half to help secure the point.

Speaking after the game, manager Darrell Clarke said:

“I thought we started quite slowly but after the first 15 minutes we were very good.

“The pleasing thing for me as a manager and my staff is we see plenty of work out there today by the boys that we’ve been working on.

“That’s what we should see after a good week’s training for the starting eleven and doing the patterns, what we’re trying to work on and create.”

The Robins were dealt an early blow as the Latics took an early lead as Lewis Freestone steered a Jordan Jones cross into his own goal.

The waves of attack kept coming from the visitors with Martial Godo driving at the Robins’ defenders before hitting the post with his right footed strike.

This warning spurred the Robins into life with Curtis Davies shooting wide before Will Goodwin’s header was deflected past the post.

Goodwin was involved a minute later as he was brought down in the penalty box which led referee Carl Brook to point to the spot.

Sercombe made no mistake from the resulting penalty, blasting an effort into the roof of the net to draw the Robins level.

They kept knocking on the door for the rest of the half with Ben Williams’ lobbed effort narrowly going over before Rob Street failed to get the contact required on a header within the six-yard-box.

The Robins started the second half like they finished the first half with Goodwin striking the base of the post before the ball agonisingly ran across the face of goal.

However, the visitors began to respond with Godo forcing Southwood into a save at his near post before he was brought down in the box by Freestone to give Wigan a penalty of their own.

But Cheltenham’s number one brought out some heroics as he dived down low to his left to deny Stephen Humphrys' tame spot kick.

A response from the Robins came immediately with a volley from Davies forcing Tickle into a smart save.

The pressure continued to be piled on as the minutes ticked down with crosses raining in on the Latics’ box before substitute Aidan Keena shot wide on the turn late on.

CHELTENHAM TOWN (3-5-2): Southwood; Bevan, Davies, Freestone; Long (c), Thompson, Sercombe, Pett, B. Williams (Ferry 82); Street (Keena 82), Goodwin. Subs not used: Harris (Gk), Bradbury, Peupion, Lloyd, Butler-Oyedeji

WIGAN ATHLETIC (3-5-2): Tickle; Morrison, Hughes, Rekik; Sessegnon (S. Smith 24), Lang (c) Stones 74), Adeeko (Watts 56), Shaw, Jones; Godo (McManaman 74), Humprhys. Subs not used: Amos (Gk), Pearce, Magennis

REFEREE: C Brook

ATTENDANCE: 4,235 (927 from Wigan)