Wigan Athletic will soon get back Shaun Maloney after he made it through 90 minutes of a development squad match on Monday evening.
The 29-year old joined the Latics from Celtic in the summer but has managed just three substitute appearances in the Premier League because of injury.
However, Maloney is close to a return and is confident that the club, currently bottom of the table, can stay up after last week's 2-1 win at Bolton.
"I enjoyed the game and whether it's a first-team game or a reserve-team game you always give 100% to try and do something that will get you closer to the senior team.
"We played as well as I've seen us play for a while against Bolton last weekend," he added.
"The work-rate was something that stood out and if we can replicate that in the majority of games between now and the end of the season we'll give ourselves a great chance of staying up.""It's been a while since I was able to get 90 minutes under my belt, it felt good and it was a good game to be involved in," Maloney told the club's official website.
