Sunday 1 March 2015 17:12, UK
Wigan boss Malky Mackay has challenged his side to keep putting pressure on their fellow Championship strugglers after a vital 3-1 victory at bottom side Blackpool.
South Korea international Kim Bo-kyung opened his Latics account just before the break and centre-back Harry Maguire added a second midway through the second half.
Winger James McClean then sealed the visitors' victory late on to leave Blackpool - who scored a late consolation through Gary Madine - 15 points from safety.
"It's a great result," said Mackay, whose side remain second-bottom, nine points adrift of 21st-place Rotherham.
"It was always going to be a tough one coming here with us both scrapping for the points.
"There's a fighting spirit at Blackpool that we were going to have to compete with.
"It's a local derby and the pitch is quite something right now. For anybody to be calm and play football the way they did, I take my hat off. So to come away with a result like that was really pleasing.
"It was nip and tuck and we managed to force that goal before half-time which meant Blackpool had to come out and leave us a bit more space in the second half.
"The points total over the last six to eight weeks has not echoed performances and if we can keep putting in performances like that, we can put pressure on teams above us and we will do that right until the end."
Wigan took the lead on the stroke of half-time when Kim tapped home past a seated Joe Lewis before Maguire's header from Jermaine Pennant's cross on 67 minutes made it 2-0.
McClean then slotted past Lewis on 79 minutes but Madine tapped home Tony McMahon's cross late on for the Seasiders, who have not won in six games.
"It's extremely tough," said Blackpool manager Lee Clark. "In terms of the home games and the performances and the results this is the lowest I've been.
"It was a great opportunity for us, a big, big opportunity and we blew it. It's another game gone. The gap between us and the other teams has got wider so it's made it a difficult day for us all.
"While it's still mathematically possible we've got to keep going, to keep fighting and scrapping for points, but it has made it very difficult.
"We played with too much fear. In the first half there was too much fear and we concede a poor goal which makes it very, very difficult for us.
"We've got to keep our heads up, we've got to keep fighting hard. We need to get on the training pitch and try and improve things. It's tough but we have to try and make things change."
