‘We can't allow ourselves to get lazy’ – Balogun tasks Wigan as relegation battle heats up

Leon Balogun has stressed that Wigan cannot afford to lose focus if they are to avoid relegation in the Championship.

Playing his maiden home game for the Latics, Paul Cook’s men secured a narrow 1-0 over Millwall to record their first win in three games.

After a goalless first half inside DW Stadium, Shaun Hutchinson’s 57th-minute own goal decided the clash.

The Latics currently are two points away from safety, but the 31-year-old warned that his teammates should not relent yet, insisting they must "trust in the process".

"When you look at the other results, you see how massive this win is for us,” Balogun told Latics TV.

"The next challenge comes on Wednesday and hopefully we can step up to the challenge against Reading like we did against Millwall.

"I got my full debut last weekend, but it was away, so to introduce myself to the club and the Wigan family in this manner, it's nice, it feels good.

"It was 100% deserved, especially if you look at the performances over recent weeks. Apart from Preston, we've been up there and close. It felt like we should have won the games against Middlesbrough and Cardiff.”

He added: "I spoke to Sam Morsy about it, it's a process and you could see today that we had more confidence than last week. It's an improvement, a step forward and you have to trust the process.

"We've lost one game in six games, the rest have been draws or wins, so there's definitely a positive trend and hopefully we can keep going.

"We've got to go from game-to-game and be 100%. We have to stick to what we're doing and we will get our rewards. We can't allow ourselves to get lazy or do one percent less.

"Against Millwall you can see that if everyone does their job, we can achieve 100%. It equals to results and happy faces.

"We have to deal with this situation and the more people we see out in the stadium standing with us, the better it is for us. We also have the responsibility to reward them and give back, it's give and take."

Wigan are guests of Reading on Wednesday before travelling to the Hawthorns for a date with West Bromwich Albion.