HARRY Kewell wants form man Davis Keillor-Dunn to rise to the challenge of increased competition at Latics.

The midfielder has been nominated for the League Two player of the month award for January after kicking off the calendar year with three goals in five outings.

They included a stunning winner to seal the come-from-behind victory against near neighbours Salford City last time out.

Having made an impact off the bench against the Ammies, Keillor-Dunn will hope to be back in the starting line-up when Exeter come to Boundary Park on Saturday to end a two-week wait for action. But in loanees Marcel Hilssner and Serhat Tasdemir, Kewell has brought in two players in the January transfer window who are in direct competition with the former Wrexham man.

“He’s still got a lot to learn and I’ve brought one or two players in that can challenge him, so now he’s got to have a completely different mindset to find a different solution,” said the Latics boss.

“But I’ve got to be able to provide those solutions for him so that when he’s in those positions that when things are not working he’s got other ideas that he can rely on, not just ‘oh okay, I’m out of the game now’.

“He’s learning, he is performing at a good level, but there’s a lot more that is in him and he just doesn’t realise it yet.”

Following his winner against Salford, Keillor-Dunn credited his improving form down a shift to a more central position having started out wide after his summer move.

Kewell, however, does not want to see the 23-year-old, or any of his players, tied to one position in the final third.

“You have to adapt players but I’m not overly keen on a player saying ‘that’s my great position, that’s where I want to play’,” the Latics boss said.

“You’ve got to be able to adapt because it’s not hard to mark a player who plays in that position and you can take him out of the game quite easily.”

Keillor-Dunn will find out if he has won the League Two prize for January tomorrow morning.