Tarkowski stars as stopper and scorer
Super-sub James Tarkowski was as happy with the clean sheet as his goal which provided the launchpad for the 2-0 npower League One match at Crewe Alexandra.
The 19-year-old central defender remarked: "The biggest part to the win was keeping the clean sheet.
"We need to keep working on keeping clean sheets consistently."
Tarkowski added that is a victory which has lifted spirits after a challenging start to the campaign.
He said: "We owed the fans that win because we have been poor in the last few games including losing at home to Coventry last Saturday.
"We have not been getting wins and it was important we did so at Crewe.
"It has lifted confidence, but we cannot let it get to our heads and get carried away. We need to keep that level of performance for our next game against Preston on Saturday and then the game after that."
Tarkowski , who replaced the injured Jean-Yves M’voto shortly before half time, was delighted to be back in the team after losing his place to Cliff Byrne.
"It was bad luck on Jean-Yves’ behalf to get injured, but it was great for me to be back in the team," he said.
Tarkowski was delighted to score only his second goal in professional football paying tribute to the delivery from Lee Croft’s corner.
"It was a great ball and I saw if fly to the back post where I was lucky to get away from my marker and got on the end of it," he continued.
Tarkowski, who was last night making his 34th first-team appearance for Latics, added it is difficult coming on as a substitute so early.
He said: “It is tough coming on at any stage to get used to the pace of the game and also the conditions. You saw that with one of my first touches when I almost let in one of their players.
“Once I got going in the second half, I thought I did alright.”