Wigan Athletic boss on Leyton Orient home defeat - 'It never felt like we were threatening them...'

With playmaker and talisman Thelo Aasgaard left on the bench, Latics barely laid a glove on the O's during a disappointing 90 minutes, with left-back Steven Sessegnon's second-half strike their only real effort on goal.

And at the other, two uncharacteristic switches off saw the Latics rearguard - statistically the second best in League One heading into the game - concede at the end of either half.

"There were two parts of that game," assessed Maloney. "I thought the first 30 minutes was fine, and the game then became sort of 50/50 for the next 15 minutes and the second half.

"We conceded two bad goals, but I would say the performance in the second half wasn't good.

"It never felt like we were threatening them...we could get into certain areas but we were unable to create any big chances. And we're really struggling in that final third at the moment.

"There's definitely moments over the last few games where we have been good, getting into one-v-one situations.

"But probably our positioning in the box, and our intent to attack the ball has been at much higher levels than it has been today.

"It felt from pretty early on in the second half that the game was just drifting. And on days like this, that's when I expect our defensive line to be strong, and we weren't.

"The two goals we conceded were poor, so from sitting here and talking to you about a 0-0, I'm talking about a 2-0 defeat. And you also have to respect Leyton Orient, and the way they played and pressed us, and how they defended their box.

"But the two goals...they're really, really poor from our point of view."

The result leaves Latics only two points about the relegation zone, ahead of Tuesday night’s Vertu Trophy round of 32 trip to League Two Chesterfield...before the small matter of next Saturday’s derby against near-neighbours Bolton Wanderers at the Toughsheet Stadium.