Wigan Athletic chief bemoans 'mentality' problem - 'It was between the ears, not tactical or technical'

Latics bossed the opening 45 minutes at the Kassam Stadium and deservedly led through Jordan Jones' fine individual goal.

But Josh Murphy levelled for the hosts deep into stoppage-time at the end of the first half - which knocked the wind out of Wigan sails.

Oxford opened up a 3-1 lead through further goals from Cameron Brannigan and Ruben Rodriguez, before Thelo Aasgaard headed home with 10 minutes left/.

There was to be one more goal, but unfortunately for Latics it went to Tyler Goodrham and Oxford, leaving Maloney to reflect on what might have been..

"I thought we were very, very good for 45 minutes, right up until they scored their first goal," the Latics boss said.

"But then the mentality dropped...and that's something I have to change...I'll make sure of it.

"You can dominate a half and then concede a goal, that happens in football.

"But what I wanted to see at half-time...and I didn't see in the second half...was an understanding of why we'd been so dominant.

"We'd been that good with and without the ball for large parts of that first half, and we can't take anything for granted.,

"We have to outfight teams...as soon as we start to think we're better than we are, we get hurt.

"That's what happened in the second half, and I don't like it...I didn't like what I saw in terms of the mentality.

"We've got some really good lads in there, some very young ones as well...and they have to understand that football is hard.

"When you start to think you're doing okay, good teams can hurt you, and that's what happened here.

"But that's on me, it's me who builds the culture, and creates the environment where we have to get rid of this.

"We're definitely playing catch-up with that, it's been a constant battle for us since day one.

"The game is difficult enough without taking your foot off the gas like we did.

"We got beat 4-2, and the reality is it was between the ears rather than anything tactical or technical."