Why Dara Costelloe was determined to make the most of the 'open door' at Wigan Athletic

The 22-year-old broke his duck against Doncaster Rovers at the weekend, opening the scoring in the 3-0 victory at the Brick.

It was Costelloe's 10th game for Latics since joining from Premier League Burnley over the summer.

He was one of three striker signings made by Ryan Lowe, with Paul Mullin and Christian Saydee also arriving to join Maleace Asamoah Jnr up top.

But with Saydee starting a three-game suspension for his recent sending-off at Lincoln City, Costelloe knew it was up to him to step up to the plate.

"The door was open for me with Chris being out, and it's not just going to be for one game," said Costelloe.

"He's a great player, but it's up to me to keep going and see what happens. We feel we can all push each other to get the best out of each other.

"It's a team game, and if we want to challenge as we want to, everyone has to be pushing each other. Any competition for places can only be good.

"We're all good mates, in training we're all encouraging each other and wanting the best for each other. That's all we can do, keep trying to get better every day, and it keeps everyone on top of it."

Costelloe's goal was reward for his tireless contribution all season, which has seen him run his blood to water in search of goals.

"I just run about, I tried to hassle and harry them, and hold it up for the lads to get people around us," he smiled. "I just try to work as hard as I can for the team, and that's a given, really.

"A lot of our play is wanting to be on top of teams, making sure they can't play through us, and having time on the ball.

"If a team has time and space on the ball, they can hurt you, so that's a huge part of our game, to not allow the opposition that.

"If even one of us is off, it can affect the team, and I thought everyone put in the maximum and that showed with the scoreline.

"The first 15 minutes of any game is so important...you can almost win the game if you start the right way.

"I thought we did that, scoring two in the first 15, and then adding another in the first five minutes of the second half probably killed it off."

Latics have now picked up 10 points from their four home league games, with two more wins from two in the Carabao Cup, making the Brick a real fortress so far.

"That's what it has to be," added Costelloe. "Whelo (Glenn Whelan) is very big on that, he's proper on it before every game...no-one comes here and wins.

"The gaffer is huge on it as well, and I think we're showing this with how we're playing this season.

"No matter how good the opposition, whoever comes here, we're not going to make it easy for them.

"We'll hunt you down, we'll use the full width of the pitch, we'll stretch teams...and it's a good way to go."