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Martinez hails Wigan's bottle after dramatic win

Wigan scored the winner in injury-time © Getty Images

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Wigan manager Roberto Martinez hailed the attitude of his side after their dramatic victory over West Ham gave them a Premier League lifeline.

The Latics started the second half two goals down, but a Charles N'Zogbia brace and a maiden Wigan goal for Conor Sammon gave Martinez's men a fighting chance of staying up on the final day.

"It's impossible to describe it. It was probably the worst-case scenario at half-time against a West Ham side who were playing well and deserved to be in front, and then we had that reaction from a group of men with huge responsibility in their profession. All the hard work through the 10 months came out," Martinez told Sky Sports News.

"I could not be prouder of them. In football you say that if you work hard you get the rewards but it's difficult to keep hearing the same things and not getting the feeling of joy from winning. Today we had that and we deserved that.

"The crowd made it very special. They never left us on our own when it would have been very easy, and that performance at the end is something I don't think we will see for a long time from both sides. You have to give credit to West Ham. It's a very sad day for them as they are relegated, but their performance is something they can be proud of.''

Martinez also paid tribute to match-winner N'Zogbia, but was keen to make sure the efforts of his whole squad were acknowledged.

"Charles has a real talent but in football it is a collective effort. You need players who can hit the back of the net and get the headlines, but today it was about the team. Without the team you cannot win games like that. The way we had to work as a team, it was phenomenal.

"Charles will get the plaudits and he deserves them but the attitude we saw there should make everyone very proud, and I hope everyone can be proud of these players next week.''

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