Wigan Athletic boss reacts to Wycombe Wanderers point - 'I get a big satisfaction...'

Latics restricted the second-placed Chairboys - League One's top scorers with 58 goals - to very little as the defence and Sam Tickle stuck to their task.

At the other end, Dale Taylor barely had a kick of the ball, but there was no doubting Latics fully warranted a point for their dogged determination to not get beat.

"We had to work hard for that," acknowledged manager Maloney. "The performance with the ball could definitely be better, but I actually really enjoyed what we did without the ball.

"I didn't like the first 10 minutes, but after that we didn't give up many chances. And I'm pretty sure three or four weeks ago we'd have lost that game.

"We've seen quite a few matches like that at home where we've gone on to get beat. In a really hard match, I really enjoyed what the players gave...they gave their team everything today."

Maloney had taken the extremely rare step of naming an unchanged side following the 1-1 draw at Crawley Town in midweek, with the performance absolutely deserving all three points.

This time, Latics were unable to click as an attacking unit, but Maloney accepts - with the squad having been overhauled again in the January transfer window - it remains a work in progress.

"Look, I would have loved the game to have been very different, in terms of us with the ball...100 per cent we can play better with the ball," he said.

"We can be braver in terms of understanding how Wycombe were pressing...it's not speed, it's more understanding how the opposition are pressing.

"It was something we got right at Crawley, and created an incredible amount of chances. Today we didn't quite understand how they were pressing, we should have got out more, been braver to play, particularly down that left-hand side...but we didn't.

"Some of that is getting players to understand how we play more, but when we have days like that, we have to defend well, and make sure we don't get beat. We worked extremely hard...the boys were out on their feet at the end...and I get a big satisfaction from watching them defend like they did.

"This is obviously a new team, in terms of being brought together, but they are growing together in a really good way. We showed a side of the team we probably haven't seen all season...and I liked it. The group up until January was very young - probably the youngest in the league - but it definitely feels more senior now, and we're seeing the benefits."