The Latics dragged themselves off the foot of the Barclays Premier League table with a 2-1 victory - just their second of the season - at Sunderland yesterday.

Coming a week after they ended a run of eight successive defeats with a 3-3 draw with Blackburn which could have been even better, the result increased optimism at the DW Stadium that they can repeat last season's feat and retain their top-flight status.

Martinez said: "It's not a matter of confidence. I know we are good enough to get more points than we had last season.

"If we want to be lazy and assess teams by the table, it's going to give us a lot of false information.

"If you look at the two points we should never have lost last week, we would have been on the same points as Sunderland, and we are two completely different football clubs with different budgets and different aspirations.

"We need to get the points we got last season and it's going to be a challenging year, as it always is.

"But the truth is in football, you need momentum. It's a team game and you need momentum and you need to play with confidence and belief.

"I can tell you all these things, but if we keep playing well and losing games, it's difficult to create that momentum.

"I just feel that in the last two weeks, the team has played without the fear we have shown before, without the feeling of having something to lose after having a chain of defeats.

"I am extremely, extremely proud. This group of players has matured so much in the last few weeks. They are characters that everybody should be very proud to have at Wigan Athletic."

Wigan famously won their last two games of the 2010-11 campaign to escape the drop on 42 points, and will hope they can avoid having to reproduce the same kind of heroics this time around.

Their cause looked forlorn for much of the opening 45 minutes at the Stadium of Light as Sunderland threatened to put their recent disappointing run behind them in style.

The home side went in front with just eight minutes gone when Latics keeper Ali Al-Habsi failed to hold Nicklas Bendtner's long-range effort and although he managed to block Kieran Richardson's follow-up, Sebastian Larsson converted the rebound.

But Al-Habsi redeemed himself with a string of fine saves to deny Richardson, Wes Brown, Larsson, Phil Bardsley and John O'Shea with the Black Cats running riot.

However, the visitors were back on terms a minute before the break when, after Larsson was adjudged to have tripped Victor Moses inside the penalty area, Jordi Gomez converted from the spot.

If Wigan were fortunate to be level at the break, they more than made a fist of it after it and were looking good value for a point when their fortunes took another marked turn for the better deep into injury time.

James McArthur put Brown under pressure as he attempted to deal with a hurried pass from keeper Keiren Westwood and when he emerged with the ball, he squared for fellow substitute Franco Di Santo to snatch victory.

The emotions on the two benches were in sharp contrast as the home fans turned on Steve Bruce while as Martinez celebrated a precious win.

He said: "I am extremely, extremely proud because remember that football is a team game and how you approach a disappointment allows you to fulfil your potential.

"Today, there were a few players disappointed because they were not in the starting line-up, but two of the subs when they came on, they were the ones who produced the goal.

"They showed great concentration and a great desire to help the team, and that's why we won today, because of those dynamics internally.

"I couldn't be prouder as a manager to have players who are disappointed because they want to play, but once they are on the pitch, they are only thinking unselfishly for the team and what they can do.

"Franco Di Santo's performance and James McArthur when they came on is probably the clear message I want, Wigan Athletic playing with that respect and with that enthusiasm.

"I am extremely proud of them."