Wigan Athletic boss admits to 'hardest two weeks I've had' after edging classic 'game of two halves' against Fleetwood Town

Latics went into their second EFL Trophy fixture having lost their last four League One outings, to slip to second bottom in the table.

It looked like that wretched run was going to continue when the Cod Army led 2-0 at the break thanks to a brace from Kabongo Tshimanga.

But after a triple change at the break - and a tactical reshuffle - Latics dominated the rest of the gameGoals from Stephen Humphrys and substitute Josh Stones had them level by the three-quarter mark.

And although fellow half-time replacement Tom Pearce's 88th-minute free-kick was cancelled out by Josh Earl deep into stoppage-time, Latics prevailed after a penalty shoot-out.

The definition of a game of two halves - and something Maloney and Latics can build on.

"It's a cliche, but it was definitely a case of that, on so many levels," the Latics boss said.

"The first half was everything I don't want to see in our club, in our team.

"And the second half was the complete opposite, I thought it was absolutely brilliant.

"It was everything we want...running as hard with the ball as you do without it...really simply, that was the difference.

"And then within that, we have some brilliant players...some of the things they do going forward, it is brilliant to watch.

"I said at the start of the season I wanted to give the fans an exciting team to watch.

"What have I been here, nine months? The last two weeks have been the hardest.

"But the fans certainly have an exciting team to watch.

"I just have to find a solution to make it a consistently exciting, winning team to watch."

Maloney admitted the recent run of results had possibly contributed to his side's lacklustre start.

"It was probably more the confidence levels at the start," he added.

"Even with the ball, we were causing them problems, it was just without it that was the issue.

"In fairness to their manager, they changed tactically from anything they'd done in the games he's had.

"But that shouldn't have caused us as many problems as it did, we still train for when certain players are in certain areas.

"When they started to put together four of five passes, I did start to see a drop in confidence, and that had to change, in terms of the profile of the players."

Fleetwood will point to the fact they hit the woodwork three times – twice in the first half and once more after the break – as proof it was not their night.

The shoot-out got off on the wrong foot for Latics when skipper Callum Lang saw his effort saved.

But after Fleetwood went ahead, youngster Chris Sze scored before the visitors missed with their second effort.

Pearce then saw his spot-kick saved, with Town again edging ahead.

But after Sean Clare converted, Tickle saved Fleetwood’s fourth kick to keep it at 2-2.

Stones saw his successful kick cancelled out for 3-3.

Charlie Hughes then put Latics in front again, before Ryan Broom sent the ball well wide of the mark to spark celebrations in the home end.