Gary Caldwell believes Wigan finally got reward for displays in win over MK Dons

After three league defeats on the spin – plus a Carabao Cup first-round exit at Barnsley – Wigan came flying out of the blocks and deservedly picked up the spoils at the Brick Community Stadium.

Two goals from Jensen Weir and another by skipper Max Power had Wigan three goals to the good, before Aaron Collins pulled back a late consolation for the visitors.

“I think we carried on the way we’ve started this season,” was Caldwell’s assessment.

“We didn’t deserve to lose in the first round of the Carabao Cup and we deserved to get points in probably every league game so far.

“For a new group not to get that and to still come to perform like that shows the belief and the understanding we have.

“I thought we were excellent for large parts of the game, and I still think we can get even better, like in the later stages.

“But having not won, with it being such a young group, that has shown the character and the quality we have here.

“And it’s really exciting in the way we can still get a lot better as well.

“There’s lots to take from that, but also lots to do in terms of recovery for another tough game on Saturday.

“I’m just really pleased for the players, because they’ve got their rewards for sticking to our principles, and sticking to what we want to be as a team, and getting the right result tonight.”

For Dons manager Paul Warne – a former Wigan striker – it was a night to forget.

“I can’t dispute that they were significantly better than us and we deserved nothing from the game,” he said.

“I know we’re going to lose games, but I get down when our performance is lacking.

“We didn’t have the intensity on or off the ball. We made changes to freshen it up, we prepared properly but we looked leggy.

“They scored two screamers too which can happen, but they also had other chances too.

“We changed a couple of things at half-time and even though we looked better going forwards, we managed to concede two. Then the game was gone.

“But I don’t think we worked hard enough for it to be our night. Sometimes you’re on the wrong side of it, but tonight we weren’t at our best and we have to address that quickly.

“Wigan had energy, momentum and we looked leggy. It took their goal to liven us up.

“It took us until the 40th minute to get the ball to Sam (Nombe), and then we had two crosses into the box within five minutes which I’d expect us to take at least one.

“That’s nearly 10 per cent of the season gone now and you can’t afford to have many learning evenings, that’s how I see it, but maybe this is one of them. We need to bounce back on Saturday.”