James McCarthy has told his team mates they can use their narrow defeat to Man City as the springboard for their bid for survival.
McCarthy was as disappointed as anyone on Monday night as the Latics suffered their 14th defeat in 21 league games this season to remain rooted to the foot of the table.
But the midfielder was encouraged by Wigan's second-half display against the league leaders in a match they only lost 1-0 and has urged them to build on the performance, starting at Queens Park Rangers this weekend.
He told Wigan Today: "Having got ourselves back in the game, it was frustrating not to be able to get some reward in terms of points on the board as well.
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But we were straight back into it at training on Tuesday, and we need to have a right good go at these final 17 games.
"There's no looking down now, only up - and we'll go into every game confident of getting the points we need with the help of our fans behind us."