Wigan Athletic boss hails 'complete performance' as Peterborough United brushed aside

Latics recorded a fifth clean sheet in a row – thanks largely to an incredible point-blank save from Sam Tickle to deny Kwame Poku, shortly after Dale Taylor had opened the scoring on 11 minutes.

But things finally clicked at the other end of the field, with Taylor doubling the lead off Matt Smith’s sublime reverse pass four minutes after the restart.

And the icing on the cake was added with nine minutes to go when substitute Callum McManaman found the top corner with a glorious right-foot strike from the edge of the area.

"It was a really important win for us, and a really good performance," acknowledged Maloney. "I really like Peterborough, they're a very good side, very difficult to play against, and we kind of needed a bit of everything.

"We had to play with the ball under a lot of pressure, we needed a lot of hard work without the ball, and we needed a massive save from our goalkeeper at 1-0.

"But it was a complete performance, with some brilliant moments.

"I knew this game wasn't going to be like Exeter, Stevenage or Lincoln, who made it very difficult for us to break them down - which is something we have to get better at.

"Against Peterborough, I knew there would be chances, there would be goals, and it would probably be decided by moments of brilliance.

"We got that at both ends from Sam Tickle and then Callum McManaman, fortunately for us.

"It was never going to be a 0-0, it was always going to be open, and it could have been 3-2, 4-2, it was one of those games."

After three successive goalless draws, Maloney’s men managed to break their duck inside 11 minutes.

Thelo Aasgaard and Silko Thomas helped to play in Luke Chambers, whose left-wing cross was nodded powerfully home by Taylor.

Credit to Posh, the response was good, and they were almost on level terms within three minutes.

The speedy Jones got in down the left, and his cross was inch-perfect for the onrushing Poku.

However, from bang in front of goal, Poku was somehow denied in spectacular fashion by Tickle – to the astonishment of most inside the arena.

Moments later, Tickle was fortunate to see a looping cross from Archie Collins land on his bar and bounce away to safety.

And Wigan were relieved to get to the interval still in front, as Posh continued to get joy down their left-hand side.

However, the home side managed to double their lead within four minutes of the restart.

Former Arsenal midfielder Smith unlocked the defence with a clever left-footed reverse pass, and Taylor drilled the ball under the advancing Jed Steer with a clinical finish.

And the icing on the cake was still to come with nine minutes remaining, when McManaman - one of five second-half substitutes - cut in from the left wing, before sending a fantastic right-footed shot over the despairing dive of Steer and into the top corner.