Martinez delighted with Wigan spirit

Wigan’s Roberto Martinez lavished praise on his players after they came from 2-0 down to beat West Ham and keep their survival hopes alive.

Demba Ba struck a brace to give West Ham a commanding lead by the half-time break at the DW Stadium.

But Conor Sammon’s goal and two from Charles N’Zogbia, including a dramatic 90th-minute winner, completed a remarkable transformation for the home side.

The result consigns West Ham to life in the Championship next season, while Wigan stay alive until the final round of the season.

They remain in the bottom three, but join Birmingham and Blackpool on 39 points, one point behind Wolves and Blackburn.

Their last match is away to Stoke City next Sunday.

“It’s impossible to describe it,” Wigan manager Martinez said after the match.

“It was probably the worst-case scenario at half-time against a West Ham side who were playing well and deserved to be in front, and then we had that reaction from a group of men with huge responsibility in their profession.”

“I could not be prouder of them. In football you say that if you work hard you get the rewards but it’s difficult to keep hearing the same things and not getting the feeling of joy from winning. Today we had that and we deserved that.”

Martinez expressed sympathy for relegated West Ham, who sacked manager Avram Grant within an hour of the final whistle.

“You have to give credit to West Ham,” Martinez said.

“It’s a very sad day for them as they are relegated, but their performance is something they can be proud of.”

The Spaniard acknowledged that two-goal hero N’Zogbia would receive much of the attention, but believes the entire team also deserve to be congratulated.

“Charles has a real talent but in football it is a collective effort,” he said.

“You need players who can hit the back of the net and get the headlines, but today it was about the team.”

“Without the team you cannot win games like that. The way we had to work as a team, it was phenomenal.”

“Charles will get the plaudits and he deserves them but the attitude we saw there should make everyone very proud, and I hope everyone can be proud of these players next week.”