Table still source of 'frustration' admits Wigan Athletic skipper

Latics head into Saturday's visit of Exeter in the relative luxury of lower mid-table, seven points clear of the relegation zone.

However, based on points won on the field, Latics would be up in ninth spot - only seven points off the play-offs, with a third of the campaign to play.

The eight-point deduction imposed last summer - as a result of well-documented issues relating to the previous ownership - still continues to have a negative effect.

Magennis admits it's a unique situation that cannot be underestimated.

"We know we would be higher, which can be frustrating," he acknowledged. "But the manager put a big impetus on us right from the start to forget about that.

"We managed to eradicate those eight points pretty fast, and from then on it was going to be about progression as a team.

"From the outside looking in, to the neutral, this season was only ever going to be about stability for the club.

"For us as players, obviously we want to win every game, and if you do that, there's a high probability you will get promoted.

"The reality of that is very different, football is very unpredictable. For us, it's been about progressing as a team and progressing as a club.

"Of course, long term, we want to get this club back to where it was. But, at the moment, we're in League One, we have to take every single game seriously, and we can't look beyond the next game."

The big challenge for Shaun Maloney and Latics has been to ensure this term doesn't get reduced to one of 'treading water', with hopes of a promotion push having been all-but dashed before the campaign even got under way.

But Magennis points to important building blocks having been put into place as proof the rebuild is already well under way.

"Yes, 100 per cent," he said. "The gaffer has already been recruiting well, the core of the younger lads are on longer-term contracts.

"Wigan at the moment is a good place to be, you're coming in every day to the training ground and you're looking forward to going to work, looking forward to seeing the lads.

"I've been to some places where that's not been the case, but there's something happening here that's in the ascendency, something special.

"And that can only happen when you have a good bunch of lads, a bunch of workers, a bunch with good quality, who come from an honest background - which is what we've got."

The much-travelled Magennis also welcomes the fact Latics have once again been a big fish in a smaller pond this term.

"There's no getting away from the fact the badge of Wigan Athletic is absolutely massive," he added. "But when you come away to opposition grounds, that means absolutely nothing.

"Regardless of how big that badge is, you have to front it, and earn that right to play and the right to win - and I feel like we have done that.

"Inconsistencies will always affect a new team, but I think the longer the season has gone on, we're showing we can be a formidable team."