Wigan Athletic boss hails bravery of injured matchwinner Callum McManaman

McManaman - in his third spell at Wigan - came off the bench 10 minutes after the restart with Latics 1-0 down at home to the Cobblers.

And after Charlie Hughes had headed the equaliser with 18 minutes to go, McManaman cut in from the left-hand side before curling a beautiful right-foot shot into the top corner from 20 yards.

"I thought he was brilliant in the first half against Derby, but he's had a knock on his hip," said Maloney.

"I would have liked to have started him today, and I ended up needing him longer than I wanted.

"But it was a brilliant day for Callum.

"I've seen the progression he's made while he's been back here, all the work he's put in, and I'm so, so happy for him."

The Latics boss also admitted his side are 'ahead of schedule' after moving to within two points of wiping out their eight-point deduction with only two games played.

"It's been a really positive start in the league," Maloney added.

"We set ourselves a target of six games to get into positive points, so we're maybe a little ahead of schedule.

"But we know what football can do.

"In terms of today's game, I thought it opened up in the last 20 minutes, but we had a brilliant feeling at the end.

"And all the credit has to go to the players.

"It was the players that had to see out the last half an hour at Derby, where we had to defend for our lives.

"We had to do the same here for the last 10 minutes plus seven minutes of injury time.

"But the mentality of the young group, I think it's always a bit of an unknown.

"And we had some big, big performances today to get us over the line."

Latics travel to Carlisle on Tuesday night before the small matter of a trip to Horwich next weekend to face local rivals Bolton Wanderers.