Dave Penney has every confidence his players can brush aside the disappointments of the last week and cause an upset tomorrow when Latics play hosts to Coca-Cola League One leaders Norwich City.

The Latics manager said: "The players are strong and resilient and there is no point moping about. We have to make sure we get at it and be ready for Norwich.

"What happened against Colchester and Leeds has gone. The performance at Colchester was excellent, but we had a poor second half at Leeds."

Penney says there have been positives to emerge from the defeats against Colchester and Leeds who are third and second respectively.

He still cannot believe how Latics left Colchester empty handed, though he admitted they were taken apart in the second half at Leeds.

Penney said: "We played very well at Colchester where our performance was excellent and to come away with nothing was criminal.

"We set out our stall to frustrate Leeds which we did in the first half, but we did not do enough to hurt them when we had the ball.

"We gave away the ball cheaply and didn't create more than a couple of half chances."

Penney believes it is great to have such a high-profile fixture in which to bounce back from the midweek defeat at Leeds.

He also believes if they reproduce the form against Colchester, where they created a hatful of chances, on a weekly basis they will eventually start putting them away.

The Latics manager is not fazed by the fact Norwich's front three of Grant Holt, Chris Martin and Wes Houlahan have scored 56 goals between them.

Penney says that Latics have defended adequately, but their problems are at the opposite end of the table where they have struggled to find the net. Latics have, in fact, the worst scoring record in League One having found the net 24 times in 30 league  matches.

Norwich, by contrast, are the leading marksmen among the 92 club with 69 goals and they could finish the season with a double of 100 league goals and 100 points.

The Latics manager continued: "We haven't conceded a lot, but we haven't scored enough goals to win matches - it is as simple as that.

"That is what we are working all the time in training to improve because we know that if we are to win games we have to score goals.

"We have scored the least goals of any team in our league and statistics don't lie."

Penney added that as the home team the onus is on them to take the game to Norwich which is something they will be striving to do as it is important to win home games irrespective of the opposition.

"We got out with the intention of trying to win every game and we will be setting out our stall to do so as we did at Colchester. There is no point looking for draws because, if you do, there is every chance you will get beaten," he said.

The Latics manager also hopes the fans will stick behind the team at this difficult time with the team slipping back into the bottom half of League One.

"We saw what happened at Leeds when the fans got on their backs in the first half. It is important the fans get behind the players," he explained.