Defender back on the score-sheet and impressed with progression of sqaud

For a player who is always happy to stay out of the spot-light and not grab all the headlines, Emmerson Boyce is certainly making things hard for himself!

The centre-half popped up with his second goal of the season against Fulham on Sunday, and speaking after the 1-1 draw he explained how he's taken on board people's advice to take the odd gamble in going forward, a gamble which is paying off.

"It feels good to get on the score-sheet again, and I'm delighted to have got another goal, although we should have picked up the three points as well," said Boyce.

"People have been telling me for the last couple of seasons that I needed to get into the box more and chip in with the odd goal, and it's definitely going for me at the moment.

"I've had a few chances this season, and luckily enough for me I've already put a couple of them away.

"You have to gamble and take a chance sometimes. I thought the ball might come back into the box, so I stayed there, and Paul Scharner managed to get a great head on it.

"I had a similar chance during the Chelsea game, when I blasted it and it hit the goalkeeper, so this time I tried to place it in the corner."

Unfortunately for Boyce the goal was cancelled out by Clint Dempsey's penalty shortly before half-time, and although he believes the opportunity should have been defended better, he is confident that there are significant signs of progression from last season.

"We've given away one or two penalties, and hopefully that will even itself out over the course of the whole season.

"You can always talk about refereeing decisions like their free kick, but we know we should have defended it better when it came in.

"We should have cleared our lines, but it wasn't meant to be and they got their equaliser.

"Last season we might have lost that game, but we controlled the rest of the game and I felt we deserved the three points."

Another indication of the growth in strength at Wigan Athletic was the return of Erik Edman, and Boyce was delighted to see the Swede make a return, which he hopes will help the team fulfil their potential this season.

"Erik is a very good player, and he's been waiting for his chance to get back into the first team, and he's got that now with Maynor being injured.

"That's what the gaffer wants - a big squad with everyone fighting for their place - and he certainly did himself justice on the day.

"We felt like we played most of the game in their half, but there was always a risk they would get a break and score a goal.

"But we had the majority of the game and the possession, and we need to turn that into goals and points now.

"We keep knocking on the door - and sooner or later we are going to give someone a hammering.

"On another day, the goals would have gone in, but it wasn't meant to be. Thankfully we didn't get punished at the other end on the breakaway.

"We're working hard every day in training to get it right, but we are a very inconsistent team. We put in a good performance against Chelsea then a poor one at Hull.

"If we can put a consistent run together, it can still be a good season for us.

"The manager has come in with some fresh ideas - different to what we have been used to.

"He wants us to pass the ball around, and we're enjoying playing that way at the moment, because everybody gets a touch of the ball.

"Now we have an international break before our next game, but I'd rather be back in action as soon as possible, because I want to get playing again as soon as possible, and we're already focused on Tottenham."