Two of Wigan's bravest battlers combined to earn Division Two's runaway leaders a share of the spoils in a dour contest.

Latics' powerhouse Canadian skipper Jason De Vos climbed high to meet a free kick and alert Welsh dragon Neil Roberts scored.

Paul Jewell's men were never at their best and had to show character in coming from behind to earn a point.

In a week when Latics have reported a '2m loss on last season it looked as if three points were also going begging.

Wigan trailed to Steve Howard's 57th minute header but their trademark steel engineered a deserved equaliser.

Healthy lead

Wigan remained 14 points clear at the top. They started well but lacked a cutting edge ' Luton's shock goal came from the Hatters' first serious attempt on goal.

Wigan manager Paul Jewell said: 'We started well but it was again a bit similar to how things have gone in the last few games ' we're going through a little bit of a difficult patch in front of goal.

'We just need to put a bit of spark back and I'm sure this will come.

'It was clearly a big result for Luton ' they're a big strong team and they've clearly done their homework yet I'm happy with a point and everyone knows we never throw the towel in.'

Luton boss Joe Kinner's spoiled one or two parties in his time and sensed his men could have grabbed a second to follow Howard's opener.

Kinner said: 'Considering we were without nine key players this was an excellent result ' we had to defend for our lives at times.

'I honestly thought we had a good chance of nicking a second and it was disappointing to be mugged from a set piece.'

Lack of chances

Clear-cut chances were few and far between ' Andy Liddell came closest for Wigan in a disjointed opening period. He met Gary Teale's cross on the volley but saw his effort fly agonisingly wide of the upright with Town keeper Lars Hirschfeld beaten.

Kevin Nicholls, the former Wigan favourite, returned to skipper Town and he almost broke the deadlock on 43 minutes.

Howard's header proved a timely wake up call for Wigan. Jimmy Bullard again stood out but it was Roberts ' a firm favourite with the fans ' who came to Wigan's rescue by again putting his body on the line and scoring yet another well taken goal.

Wigan finished the stronger but never seriously threatened to take all three points.

Have Wigan eased up in recent weeks? Have your say.

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