Stephen Humphrys on target for the Tics

• Manager Shaun Maloney produced a tactical masterclass as Wigan Athletic defeated second place Oxford United 2-0 at the DW Stadium.
• The visitors started confidently stroking the ball around but the hosts absorbed the early pressure before counterattacking superbly for the opening goal.
• Stephen Humphrys calmly finishing after good work by Liam Shaw and Thelo Aasgaard in the 17th minute.
• In a game of real quality both teams played attractive football creating plenty of chances at both ends.
• But it was Latics who sealed the victory on 81 minutes when substitute Callum Lang curled a superb free-kick into the top corner for his first goal of the season.
• Despite the victory Latics remain in 21st place in League One and Oxford remain in second.

Maloney made three changes to the starting line-up that defeated Exeter on Saturday with Jordan Jones,  Shaw and Aasgaard replacing Tom Pearce, Scott Smith and Josh Stones.

Oxford started confidently and quickly exerted pressure on Latics goal. In the 7th minute Marcus McGuane tested Sam Tickle from range, but the Tics keeper did well to push the ball away.

Stan Mills then called Tickle into action again on 12 minutes as he cut inside and forced a good save down to his left.

On 17 minutes after absorbing the early pressure and against the run of play Latics counterattacked superbly and took the lead.

Shaw did well to hold off his man and feed Aasgaard. On the turn, he slipped in Humphrys one on-one with the keeper and he made no mistake by calmly slipping the ball into the far corner of the net.

Latics continued to defend solidly, they gradually grew more into the game and they were always dangerous on the counter attack through Jones, Godo and Humphrys.

Mills tried his luck from 35 yards, two minutes before the interval, but Tickle saved comfortably.

1-0 to Latics at half time.

Early in the second half Rodrigues had the first effort at goal but Tickle once again saved comfortably.

Maloneyball was now in full swing as they continued to grow in confidence passing the ball with precision and skill.

Jones crossed for the unmarked Aasgaard, but his header went straight at James Beadle.

Maloney’s men were getting better and better and when Steven Sessegnon played in Godo, it looked like he would score but somehow Beadle got a hand to his strike and tipped the ball round the post.

From the resulting corner Charlie Hughes headed onto the roof of the net before at the other end Tickle did well to tip over McGuane’s dipping effort.

Substitute Pearce crossed for the arriving Godo on 68 minutes, but Ciaron Brown produced a superb block to deny him.

With ten minutes remaining Godo broke forward dangerously and was unceremoniously brought down on the edge of the box.

Substitute Lang stepped up to curl in a fantastic free-kick from 20 yards into the top corner to seal the three points for Latics.

Substitute Josh Stones might’ve added a third in added time, but his effort was tipped onto the crossbar by Beadle and from the resulting corner Beadle denied Stones again this time with a downward header.

Latics celebrated back to back wins which should give them a big boost going into the next three home league fixtures against Shrewsbury Town, Charlton Athletic and Peterborough United.

Overview

This was a tactical masterclass by Shaun Maloney. His team had carried out his instructions superbly. They had set up to absorb the high-flying visitors pressure and they hit them on the counter.

Oxford are a very good team under Liam Manning and they will be serious promotion contenders but Latics handled them excellently. Maloney has organised his young team very well and they are much improved defensively after a stern test at Exeter. They generally restricted Oxford to shots from distance and they played out from defence with great composure.

There were some very good performances on the night with Tickle, Baba Adeeko, Shaw, and Humphrys particularly impressive but the whole team is now showing improvement.

If they can continue to perform in this manner they will soon pull away from the relegation zone.

Post match comments

Speaking afterwards, Maloney said he was delighted that his side were able to back up their victory at Exeter City with another outstanding huge three points against an Oxford side who had not lost since September.

“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.

“Back to work tomorrow and we go again Saturday. The last two games have been good as a team. I’ve loved the impact of the players coming off the bench, and it’s making it really hard. They were very good today.”

Player ratings

Player ratings courtesy of Whoscored.com