Thelo will fight Wigan Athletic skipper all the way to claim hat-trick - 'It's my goal!'

The 21-year-old Academy product was outstanding as Latics shocked promotion-chasing Peterborough - labelled the strongest side in League One - on their own pitch.

After opening the scoring on 20 minutes, Aasgaard then doubled the advantage seven minutes after the restart.

The goalbound shot appeared to make minimal contact on its way in, with Magennis immediately claiming he'd had the important touch.

However, Aasgaard - who added No.3 with five minutes to go, before Posh scored two consolation goals in added time - is adamant any touch was off a defender, and therefore it remains his goal.

"I get why Josh would try to claim it," smiled the Norway Under-21 international. "I don't blame him for doing so, he's a striker, he's a true No.9, they're all like that.

"And I can't say I wouldn't be trying to do the same thing in his position!

"But from my angle, I know for a fact it came off the defender, I've seen the defender deflect it into the net.

"I even asked the defender a couple of minutes later if it had come off him, and he said it did - and not Josh - so that's good enough for me.

"It was also a shot on target, so it's my goal...I don't need any validation, because I know it is!

"It would be unfortunate if it got taken off me...I just need to go and find a ball now and get the lads to sign it..."

Despite the late drama – following the sending-off of Matt Smith for a second booking with 15 minutes to go – Aasgaard felt Latics were good value for their win that lifts them nine points clear of the relegation zone.

Indeed, had the club not been deducted eight points at the start of the season for issues relating to the previous ownership, Latics would be ninth in the standings – and only seven points off the top six with a third of the campaign to go.

"I thought we were very good, in very difficult conditions,” added Aasgaard, who scored direct from a corner on a previous visit to this ground back in the admin season of 2020-21.

"It’s a very tough place to come, but to play the way we did under pressure was very impressive.

"They’d only lost once in something like 22 matches – against us – so to do that in this league is unbelievable to be fair.

“We really respected them, they are a really good team, and we really had to be at our best to get a result.

“The sending-off made it tough, and we had a little scare at the end, but we dug in.

“I thought we managed to play our way and how we prepared, and it was a really good performance.

"We back ourselves against anyone and we showed that again today.”