Shaun Maloney says Wigan Athletic's turnaround is down to sheer hard work.

Maloney admits it took the players time to understand what manager Roberto Martinez was demanding from them off the ball.

"When the manager spoke to me about starting, the bare minimum that was required was just the work-rate," said Maloney.

"I don't know why it's taken us so long for the penny to drop with what the manager was asking us. But once we decided to do that, it made us difficult to be beaten."