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A goal in either half from Charlie Wyke saw Latics stun the League One promotion favourites on their own pitch.

REPORT: Derby County 1 Wigan Athletic 2 - Wyke at the double to give Maloney's m...

The home side levelled just before the hour mark through Craig Forsyth, but Latics' victory could easily have been more emphatic.

Shaun Maloney was delighted to kick-off the campaign with a deserved victory at Derby

And after the most difficult start imaginable to his tenure as Latics boss - on and off the field - Maloney allowed himself a moment to savour this one.

"I'm very, very happy," he said. "I know it's the first game of the season, I know it's the first step of a long, long journey.

"But we have to let our supporters feel a certain way, let them enjoy this, let them enjoy the feeling

"We didn't really know if we'd even be here on the first day of the season.

"I'm normally pretty emotionless, but it's a good day.

With five Academy products in the starting XI - one of whom, Callum Lang, skippered the side - Latics showed the future can indeed be bright.

"The performance had everything," enthused Maloney.

"I really liked parts of the first half, although I thought we could have been even better on the ball at times.

"We created enough chances maybe for it to have been more than 1-0.

"The second half was the exact opposite, and I actually loved that.

"I love that when we have to defend, we defend...and we certainly did that today against a good side.

"Derby are a good side, and they caused us big problems down their right-hand side.

"But we had everybody putting their bodies on the line, and it gives me so much satisfaction when I see every single one of our players having that desire not to get beat."

Having started the campaign with an eight-point deduction for financial issues relating to the club's former owners, Maloney is already eyeing a positive points total.

When asked how he felt about moving 'up' to minus five points, Maloney added: "I don't know how that sounds yet.

"It's a really positive start, because we wanted to make as much of a dent in that as quickly as possible.

"We gave ourselves six games to get into positive points, so we're delighted to get three points towards that."

Wigan Athletic boss on Derby County victory, a performance that 'had everything', and moving towards positive points!