Kieffer Moore equalised 11 minutes after the restart, after a lovely ball from Sam Morsy.

And Jamal Lowe flicked home a wonderful header in the last minute to secure a priceless victory.

All of which left Monk a frustrated figure in the press room.

"It's been pretty much the story of the last month for us," he said.

"In periods of the second half, we were just going through the motions, and it's not right.

"I'm not here to protect teams and protect players – you can't protect that.

"The fans aren't stupid, they understand what they see.

"We got turned over in that second half and it's not good enough.

"I've said many times I know what this group of players is capable of.

"But then tonight you see what we're capable of on the flip side.

"Everyone's had more than enough opportunity now, and decisions have to be made moving forward.

"These players are fighting for their futures at the football club all the time.

"But we let ourselves down badly in that second half and change needs to happen.

"The ones who are prepared to fight for their futures every day need to be here.

"The ones who can't need to go, and that's the way it needs to be."

For Wigan boss Paul Cook, who has seen his side throw away 27 points from winning positions this season, it was late drama of the welcome kind.

And he reckoned Wigan were long overdue a break – which gives them a real shot in the arm for their fight against the drop.

"Without a shadow of a doubt," he said. "It's a weird feeling because, on the bench at 1-1, the general consensus was we all felt we would win the game.

"And that's not a feeling we've had on the bench in quite a long time.

"In the second half we were creating chances, really good chances, and you're feeling you have to put one of them away.

"Our season was defined at half-time, 1-0 down.

"You can either lie down and wilt away, or you can stand up and fight.

"I think the dressing room is full of fight, I always have done.

"The reality is we lack certain qualities in the team, that's evident.

"Desire and work ethic, we're not lacking at all.

"Some of the naivety in our play is alarming, but they kept going and I feel we thoroughly deserved our victory."