Leam Richardson believes the next fortnight will give him the chance to get some 'quality work' into his Wigan Athletic players ahead of the derby clash against Bolton Wanderers.
Wanderers make the short journey to the DW Stadium after the international break for a 12.30pm kick-off on Saturday, April 2.
Bolton are nine points from the play-offs as things stand with seven games left of their campaign.
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The Latics meanwhile are seeking automatic promotion back to the Championship and seeking to pip Rotherham United to the League One title.
Both sides will not be in action over the next fortnight after having matches postponed due to call-ups.
The Latics have had a gruelling fixture schedule of late over the past nine weeks and beat Morecambe 4-1 at the DW Stadium over the weekend as they went into the break on a high.
And Richardson is relishing the chance to get some quality work into his players who are not going away on international duty ahead of the clash against Wanderers when they return to action.
He told the club website: “It’s been a really good shift from the players but not only the players and the staff, but also the fans..
“To travel nine consecutive weeks both home and away is some effort and it will be a well-earned break for ourselves and the fans, but it will also give us a chance to get some real quality work in.
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“We spoke at the start of the week about going into another three-game week on the back of nine consecutive weeks of playing Saturday to Tuesday. Starting with MK Dons, going into a difficult game at Crewe on Tuesday night, to then meeting Morecambe here, who are facing their own challenges.
“It was never going to be easy and we had to work for the openings. We hoped that our quality would come through and I’m really pleased with the lads’ appetite and professionalism today.
“I thought we started the game excellently well and possibly then came off what we were doing to be so good, and started to make different decisions around the pitch.
“We spoke at half-time about the professionalism because things can change on a decision as we’ve seen with the penalty. I was pleased with how the lads took over the game after that.
“We’ve got a lot of senior lads on the pitch to manage situations and the pleasing thing was after Morecambe’s goal is that we controlled the game and got another couple of goals.”
