Leam Richardson refused to get carried away despite his Wigan side closing the gap on Sky Bet League One leaders Rotherham – with two games in hand – after thumping Morecambe 4-1 at the DW.

Goals from Josh Magennis, Jason Kerr, Will Keane and Stephen Humphrys helped the Latics see off the Shrimpers, who replied through Dylan Connolly from the penalty spot.

And although Rotherham’s 3-0 home defeat to Shrewsbury added the icing to the cake, Richardson was keeping his feet firmly on the ground.

“At the end of the season, you have to accumulate an amount of points to get you where you want to be,” he said.

“Without showing any disrespect to anyone, we have to concentrate on ourselves, and focus first and foremost on getting the amount of points we need.

“Whatever goes on elsewhere, we can’t control, it’s somewhat irrelevant. But if results elsewhere go our way, we’ll take it.”

Richardson was more concerned with seeing his side sign off for a fortnight’s break – next Saturday’s trip to Burton is off due to international commitments – on a high.

“Credit goes to the players, who’ve rounded off another big week in the right way,” the Latics boss added.

“Starting at MK (Dons) last weekend, a difficult Tuesday night at Crewe, and then another positive performance and a positive result.

“I’ve got to again compliment not just the players but also the staff for working so hard to ensure they’re able to keep picking up results.

“We knew Morecambe wouldn’t make it easy for you – no team in this league will do that.

“You’ve got to make sure in the periods of the game they have, you’ve got to be clean in your work, because games can change on one decision, like a penalty.

“I just thought our lads were very professional all afternoon, we posed a threat all afternoon, and we deserved to win the game.”

Morecambe manager Derek Adams acknowledged his side’s defensive record – 79 goals shipped in 39 games, the worst in the division – is a major concern.

“Initially we coped well and limited them to a few chances,” he said.

“But we lost a really poor first goal. We are just not strong enough. The penalty kicked us on but, again, we conceded another poor goal and then again for the fourth.

“We are not defending well enough. We can’t rely on other teams. We just have to defend better. There is a need for more physical players.

“We’ve conceded an awful lot of goals – five in midweek and then four today. We’re two points adrift but still in touch, and we have to make it count.

“It was not a 4-1 game today. Wigan haven’t passed us off the pitch, but we’ve given away bad goals.”