FA Cup third-round match report: Wigan 2-0 Nottm Forest

Wigan booked their place in round four of the FA Cup with a comfortable 2-0 victory over Nottingham Forest at the DW Stadium.

Goals in either half from Will Grigg and Yanic Wildschut were enough to see off a poor Forest side, who were second best for the vast majority of the encounter.

The visitors even squandered a gilt-edged opportunity to get back into the game when they were awarded a penalty with nine minutes remaining.

Latics goalkeeper Jakob Haugaard, who had joined on loan from Stoke just minutes before kick-off, did well to keep out Forest skipper Eric Lichaj's spot-kick.

Forest thought they had made the perfect start when Niklas Bendtner fed Nicolao Dumitru-Cardoso, who slotted past Haugaard.

But the flag was up on the far side long before the shot found its way into the net and it was disallowed for offside.

Nick Powell had Wigan's first sight of goal, a free-kick from 20 yards after Michael Jacobs was tripped on the edge of the area.

The shot was hard and low, but was always headed just past the far post.

That was Powell's last involvement, with the ex-Manchester United man's afternoon ended on eight minutes with what looked to be a recurrence of a hamstring problem.

But Wigan continued to grow into the game and, inspired by the returning Sam Morsy, pushed forward in search of the opener.

Morsy, recalled from a season-long loan at Barnsley, had three shooting chances inside the opening quarter, only to fail to make the most of them.

Jordi Gomez - on for Powell - also fired over twice from good positions as Wigan enjoyed the lion's share of the ball in Forest territory.

It looked as though the visitors would reach half-time on level terms, only for Grigg to slide in at the near post to prod past the exposed Stephen Henderson.

Wigan picked up where they left off at the start of the second period, with Grigg almost making it two within seconds of the restart, only to lob the ball just wide of the mark.

Jacobs had a couple of sightings of goal, firing wide from the first and seeing the second blocked, before the home side did double their advantage just before the hour mark.

Wildschut released Stephen Warnock down the left wing, before taking the return cut-back and firing low past Henderson into the bottom corner.

By this point the Forest fans were voicing their clear displeasure at their side and manager Philippe Montanier, and his choice of substitutions.

The visitors almost gave themselves a lifeline with nine minutes to go when Luca was tripped inside the area for a clear penalty.

Lichaj's spot-kick was low and firm, but Haugaard moved quickly to his right to get in a great block, before the ball was hacked away to safety.

And substitute Jordan Flores almost added gloss to the scoreline for Wigan in stoppage-time, only to fire inches wide of the left-hand upright.