Gary Caldwell backs Boreham Wood for promotion as Wigan prevail in FA Cup tie

Gary Caldwell guided his Wigan team to an emphatic 3-0 win over non-league Boreham Wood – then backed the opposition to win Football League status this season.

The Latics are fourth from bottom of League One, but showed their pedigree as FA Cup winners to take command from the start and ran out easy winners with goals from Jon Mellish in the 11th minute, and a double strike from Morgan Fox in the 36th and 74th minutes.

Caldwell then paid this tribute to the opposition: “They are an excellent side, and they will be in the Football League next season.”

Wood boss Luke Garrard, who has led his team to a 12-point lead at the top of the National League, responded: “How nice is that? I’ll go and thank him personally for that. I’ve enjoyed watching Gary and his team.

“They’re not a bottom four team in my opinion. It was a pleasure having to test myself against a man of his stature.

“I’m frustrated and I’m angry because I wanted to progress in the FA Cup. Wigan were clean in every action. They’re an excellent team.”

Caldwell said: “We gave Boreham Wood the full respect they deserved but I thought we were very good.

“If anything, we could have won the game by more with the chances we created.

“A few players were out of the team today who haven’t been playing badly.

“I felt we needed as experienced a team as we could pick. We needed men, we needed physicality with Boreham Wood’s possession-based game and I felt we could hurt them in transition.

“The team was probably the oldest team we could pick and they did an amazing job of controlling the game, controlling the crowd and understanding what an FA Cup first-round tie looks like in terms of atmosphere and the occasion.”