'Back to business' call from Wigan Athletic boss ahead of 'prolonged' test of credentials

Latics travel to Leyton Orient this weekend aiming to pick up where they left off, after losing only one of eight fixtures - of which they won six - in the last block of fixtures.

Having now dragged themselves to within touching distance of the top half, Maloney wants no let-up against last season's League Two champions, whom he rates highly.

“We have to get back to business," insisted the Scot.

“Leyton Orient can do a little bit of everything, and really hurt you.

"They won’t play the long ball immediately, they will try and look to play through that first line of pressure, and they can hurt you.

“It’ll be a tough test, so we’ll have to be at our very best without the ball.

“And then with the talent we have, I know we can hurt most teams, if we're at our best without the ball.

The trip to the capital is the first of three games in six days, with Fleetwood due at the DW on Tuesday before Latics travel to York in the FA Cup next Friday.

"The last sort of block of games we had before the international break felt very, very hectic," assessed Maloney.

"But this is going to be very, very hectic, for an even more prolonged period of time.

"We're going to need every single member of our squad - and I know I said that during the last block of games, but even more so this time.

"I'm still not overly concerned about the league table, or constantly looking at it.

"I'll probably start to do that as we get into the January, February time.

"But the next two or three months are going to be very, very important."

Injuries are already starting to bite, but the Latics boss will not be using that as an excuse.

"I think it's the same for most teams, to be fair," he added.

"Because of the amount of youngsters we have, we're going into the unknown a little bit, in terms of the amount of games to be played.

"But that's why we have the squad, and why we wanted to build that squad.

"The owner showed a lot of support to let me do that, and we're going to need that over the next three or four months."