OPINION: Going gets increasingly tough for Wigan Athletic, VAR madness, and two massive pats on the back

But just as the manager didn't allow himself to get too high at the start, he won't be getting too low as the going gets tough.

His new-look playing squad - with the average age having been drastically lowered - was always going to experience peaks and troughs.

As Maloney said all along, the top priority for this season was always going to be to remain in League One.

The first building block in place, towards hopefully a more sustainable future, built on solid foundations.

It's fair to say the luck certainly hasn't been with Latics over the last few games.

Indeed, it was the Barnsley game - which saw Charlie Hughes controversially sent off - which kicked off the wretched recent run.

Hughes himself this week pointed to several other examples of Latics not getting the rub of the green of late, including Burton's late penalty winner in midweek.

These things tend to go against teams who are struggling.

Hopefully Lady Luck will rediscover her blue and white scarf in time for Saturday's trip to Stevenage.

It's hardly the game you'd pick to try to pick up a much-needed favourable result.

Our old friend Steve Evans and Borough have started the campaign well, and will be a tough nut to crack on home soil

Speaking of which, it will be a new ground for many of us to tick off, along with Exeter City and Leyton Orient to come before Christmas.

Latics will again be cheered on by a following of not far off four figures.

As Hughes also alluded to this week, it's that loyal support that means the players are never short of inspiration or motivation to dig that little bit deeper.

Fingers crossed it'll be a happy journey back to Wigan from the capital, with a positive result in the back pocket.

Moving away from the DW, much of this week has been dominated by the frankly ludicrous situation with VAR at last weekend's Spurs/Liverpool fixture.

For a system that was supposedly brought in to put out fires, it's managed to somehow start even more than we previously had.

You'll all have seen the video and heard the audio by now, and it's absolutely inexcusable.

But all the talk of agendas, bias, and even matches being replayed is just even more nonsense.

It's just people making a complete and utter pig's ear of what should be a relatively straightforward task.

Get rid of VAR, accept that on-field officials will make mistakes in real time, and let's just get back to football as we knew and loved it for so many years.

A couple of pats on the back to end with.

First up Dan Burn, who kickstarted his career at Wigan when Gary Caldwell picked him up from the scrapheap in 2016.

I'm not sure seven years later, either man would have imagined Burn scoring in the Champions League for his beloved Newcastle against mighty Paris St Germain, but here we are.

I remember sitting in the office at Euxton interviewing Burn about a forthcoming trip to Newcatsle.

It was obvious how much affection he had for his hometown club, who he'd always dreamt of playing for, but had resigned himself to thinking it was never going to happen.

Dreams, obviously, can come true, and no-one deserves it more than the happy-go-lucky Geordie who is literally living out his dreams.

Also congratulations to James McClean, who this week announced he will retire from international football at the end of the year.

He'll exit stage left as one of only seven men to have reached a century of caps for Ireland.

Which should be remembered far more than most of the nonsense written about him over the years.