Wigan Athletic boss 'can't ask any more' from his players despite Sheffield United setback

Iliman Ndiaye's eight-minute goal was the difference between the two sides at Bramall Lane.

The Blades could easily have been three or four goals clear at the break, only for Ben Amos to make a stunning save and Tendayi Darikw and James McClean to make last-gasp goal saving blocks.

Latics had a great spell after the break, but couldn't quite force an equaliser, and are now eight points adrift at the bottom with only six matches to go.

"They put us under a lot of pressure, particularly in the first 10 minutes," assessed Maloney.

"It was really disappointing to concede so early, but I was actually happy with how we played in that first half.

"I thought we really started to control the game with the ball, and in the second half I probably wanted to see a bit more from us

"We looked in a hurry to get forward, and I know we were 1-0 down, but sometimes you have to be a little bit patient before we can attack.

"But I thought the players gave me absolutely everything again.

"We had those chances we thought we'd create in that second half, but we couldn't take them, and that's probably the difference this week and last week."

The Latics boss heaped praise on his backline for standing form in the face of almost one-way traffic at one point in the first half.

"Ben has kept us in a few games of late, his shot-stopping has been very good since I've been," he added.

"James made a great clearance off the line, and Tendayi made a great recovery from one of our own set-plays.

"The players can't give me any more than what they are doing.

"I asked them to play under huge pressure, we knew Sheffield United would look to put huge pressure on us.

"We knew we'd have to defend, but the disappointing thing is, when we got the chances in the second half, we weren't as clinical as we could have been.

"Sheffield United were better in both boxes and that was the difference."