The disclosure provides methods and apparatus which relate to control channel decoding in a wireless communications network. In one aspect, there is provided a method in a wireless device for a wireless communications network. The method includes receiving a first set of coded control symbols on a physical control channel in a first time slot, receiving a second set of coded control symbols on the physical control channel in a second time slot subsequent to the first time slot, and attempting to decode a control message based on the first set of coded control symbols and the second set of coded control symbols using one or more soft-combining techniques.