It was an uplifting night for a young Wigan Athletic side who showed sufficient skill, discipline and composure to suggest that they will more than overcome the severe 8 point penalty imposed upon them.

Oxford had come in as clear favourites, lying in second place, ready to impose Liam Manning’s approach upon the home side. For the first quarter of an hour Latics were under pressure with Oxford dominating the ball and playing the kind of intricate football that we had seen before during Manning’s time with MK Dons. Latics could not get the ball, but to their great credit they kept their composure and shape, restricting the visitors to shooting from outside the penalty box.

But after 17 minutes Latics launched a counterattack, Thelo Aasgaard turned to launch a perfect through ball for Stephen Humphrys who hit a left footed shot that beat Oxford keeper, Beadle. The goal certainly helped the home side feel more confident. Although they continued to be pressed back in defence they used the pace of their speedy forwards to worry the visitors’ defence when they did get possession.

Latics came out for the second half in a more confident mood and continued to be unfazed by Oxford’s lion’s share of possession, launching speedy counterattacks which troubled the visiting defence. As time moved on the home team continued to grow in confidence, playing some sparkling football when in possession. After weeks of disappointing performances we saw the quality of build-up that delighted us in the early part of the season. The icing on the cake came in the 81st minute with the previously hapless substitute Callum Lang curling home a sublime free kick.

Shaun Maloney certainly got his tactics right. Despite having 65% possession Oxford were restricted to shots outside the box, which were capably dealt with my the excellent Sam Tickle. The goalkeeper also played a key role in his quality distribution, which helped launch counterattacks. As the second half had progressed it looked increasingly unlikely that Oxford could claw their way back into the game.

Maloney had stuck with the 3-4-3 formation that he used in the win at Exeter, but brought in Jordan Jones to play an unfamilar role at left wing back, which he performed with aplomb, helping out the defence and making pacy runs down the touchline. Aasgaard was brought back to play in the front three and although he hardly sparkled it was his killer pass that broke the deadlock. We had waited so long for Liam Shaw to make his first league start and he certainly looked the part with his strength in the tackle and intelligent passing.

Josh Stones had been left on the bench following his debut at Exeter, but came on after 82 minutes in prefence to Josh Magennis. He almost added a third in added time with a rocket shot that Beadle parried on to the crossbar. The resulting corner saw his downward header saved by the Oxford keeper.

Following the game Maloney commented:

“I’m really pleased. I thought the performance had a bit of everything. We played against a good opponent and limited them to not too many chances. At the moment, we are clinical at the moment. It’s a big thing we’ve been working on, and for large parts of the season, we’ve been very good attacking.

We’ve been less so defensively and the last two games have been a big improvement. Let’s not take our foot off the gas and go again this weekend. Once we got a grip of what they wanted to do with the ball, it gave us a platform to go and play, and I want even more.”