Midfielder Mike Jones described last night's 0-1 victory at Vale Park as 'ugly' but insists the club need to continue progressing to land a play-off position in May.
Jones' sixth goal of the season, and his third free kick, was enough to seal all three points against play-off rivals Port Vale.
He said: "Sometimes you just have to win like that. We don't win like that often enough. We like to play football but in this league, especially when the pitches are like they are, you can't play football and you have to dig in. You have to get ugly wins but it was great effort from the lads.
"It was a great response, definitely after Saturday. Saturday was very disappointing but it just shows the character we have to come here on a Tuesday night, and they are on a good run, and to get three points is a massive win.
The 27-year-old, who joined the club in the summer from Crawley Town, has become the club's free kick specialist since his arrival.
"I feel confident on free kicks now," Jones admitted. "I thought it was a bit far out and I considered putting it to the back stick for James or Locky but I just thought I'd have a go. I put a bit of pace on it and I was made up to see it go in the net."
Latics travel to the league's bottom side on Saturday looking for another three points to propel them closer to the play off places.
"We want to kick on again," said Jones. "We were disappointed on Saturday because we were down to the bare bones and we came up against a strong Preston side.
"We came here and showed that we weren't giving up on this last play off spot and we got the win tonight and go to Yeovil on Saturday to get another win."
Watch the full interview on Latics Player.