Wigan Athletic chief reflects on 'really important win' over 10-man Leyton Orient

The Scottish centre-back had only been on the pitch for a matter of seconds, when he headed home a cross from Jonny Smith - who had also come on in the same substitution - to break the deadlock with 17 minutes to go at the DW.

The O's had played the majority of the game with 10 men after Ethan Galbraith was shown a second yellow card on 42 minutes, after two fouls in the space of 13 minutes on his Northern Ireland international colleague Jordan Jones.

After that it was pretty much attack against defence, with Kerr giving Wigan a victory they undoubtedly deserved.

"It was a really important win," acknowledged Maloney. "The game obviously completely changed on the red card.

"Leyton Orient were good at times in the first half, we were okay...at times we were really creative, at other times, we weren't at our fluent best.

"The only positive from that, was when Leyton Orient had possession, I never felt like they were creating big opportunities to score.

"The second half was all about trying to stay patient, understand how we were going to break them down.

"They went straight to a five and a four, and it isn't easy, trying to break down 10 men.

"It was hard for the players, and every substitution we made was to become even more attacking.

"But I thought the players were really good today, because it certainly wasn't easy for them.

"As you can see, the winner came from a short corner, and sometimes you need set-plays like that to get over the line.”

Maloney also touched on the difficulties of playing against an opposition side who are a man down.

"Playing against 10 men makes it difficult in many ways...obviously it makes it harder for us to break them down,” added the Latics manager.

"Without the ball, they were looking for the counter attack and long throws, that was their biggest threat, which was different to before the sending off, because they are a good side.

"It takes away that threat, but it also makes other things harder, and you have to be really patient.

"The pitch was also difficult to play on, for both teams, who like to have a lot of possession and play through."

Despite knocking on the door throughout, however, Latics had another frustrating afternoon until Kerr’s dramatic late intervention.

Skipper Josh Magennis fired wide in the first half when he ought to have scored off Callum McManaman’s delightful through ball, the striker opting to take an extra touch when he should have shot first time.

After the break, substitute Charlie Kelman nodded an even better opportunity wide from eight yards, off a brilliant Jones cross.

Boss Maloney couldn’t have done any more to tip the game his side’s way, finishing the game with an outfield line-up consisting of two centre-backs, two attacking midfielders, four wingers and two centre-forwards.

And in the end, Latics got the three points they undoubtedly deserved, with Stephen Humphrys twice coming close to adding icing to the cake in the closing stages.