Barnsley manager's praise for Latics after beating 10-man team

Latics showed plenty of heart but ultimately struggled to overcome Charlie Hughes’ 21st minute red card, with Devante Cole and John McAtee sealing the win for Barnsley.

And Collins revealed that he has been impressed with what he’s seen so far from Shaun Maloney’s men – who would have started the day top of the league if it wasn’t for their eight point deduction.

He said: “I think they’ll finish high up, very high. Shaun is someone that I’ve spent time with, I’ve played with him and I know he’s got a good tactical mind.

“He gave us a couple of issues today even with 10 men and I think we’ll look back on this at the end of the season as a big three points.

“They’ve been to Derby and won and they’ve been to Bolton and won convincingly. I think Shaun is an excellent coach and that period he had last year has probably helped him coming into the season – as it’s given them a bit of consistency.

“We knew Wigan would keep going (after the red card), they played with a lot of desire and it’s difficult playing against 10 men. I think they’ll be pleased with how they played with the disadvantage.

“Today we tried to use our guys with experience last year and it’s an excellent three points which hopefully gives the players some confidence.

“I think Wigan are going to be right up there, but if you look across the division results like today have not been too uncommon.

“Everyone seems to be beating each other and it’ll be the team which can put the biggest string of results together that will find themselves in the top six.

Barnsley raised eyebrows up and down the country when dismantling Port Vale 7-0 on the opening day of the season, but they arrived here having not won since.

And Collins admitted that he was “relieved” to see his side get back to winning ways.

He continued: “It’s always a relief to win when you’re coming on the back of a couple of defeats.

“The first day was just an excellent day all round, to get the three points was important but to win the way we did meant it was made a bit more of a deal than it was.

“I thought the cup game afterwards (against Tranmere) was positive from the perspective that we had a really young team and they played really well.

“Then at Bristol we got a point without playing great, before two home games against two really tough teams (Peterborough United and Oxford United).

“People ask questions after defeats but we knew the reasons why they happened and how we needed to improve.

“To come here and get a result considering where we’re at is really pleasing.”