Wigan manager Shaun Maloney described Charlie Wyke as “special” after his double clinched a 2-1 League One win at Derby.
Wyke suffered a cardiac arrest during training in November 2021 and now plays with a defibrillator fitted in his chest.
Maloney was delighted with his team but acknowledged the significance of Wyke’s contribution.
“Charlie Wyke is a special case,” he said. “Any recognition he gets he deserves every single bit of it.
“What he and his family have been through I can’t put words to that really. It’s taken time for him to get in the mental condition and then physically, he’s come back in incredible shape this summer.
“From the very first days of pre-season, he felt like a different player.
“We’ve been really patient with him and I’m very, very happy for Charlie today.”
Wyke’s goals plus resolute defending and quality goalkeeping were enough to give Wigan victory against one of the promotion favourites.
Wyke seized on a poor back pass from Sonny Bradley to give Wigan the lead in the 38th minute but Derby levelled just before the hour minute through Craig Forsyth’s superb volley.
Sam Tickle denied Forsyth a second just before before Wyke headed in a cross from Tom Pearce after 72 minutes.
Derby piled on the pressure but Wigan stood firm and held on through nine minutes of added time to celebrate a win that cuts their points deduction to minus five.
Maloney was also happy with his side’s character, adding: “I couldn’t have asked for anything better really, the performance had everything.
“At times we were very good first half and then we had to suffer without the ball and had to defend in the last 20 minutes.
“I loved the heart my team showed and I know it’s the first game of the season but this one means a lot.
“The way we defended in the last 20 minutes, there’s a real satisfaction when you see your team defending with every single player putting their body on the line, they’ve got a bit of character about them.”
Derby head coach Paul Warne voiced his frustration, saying: “It’s always frustrating when you lose at home and I can’t say we played at our best today.
“There were some parts of our play that were really good and some parts which were a little bit frustrating but over the whole 99 minutes, I didn’t think we deserved to lose.
“It was a pretty even game between two pretty good sides and it just came down to a couple of errors we got punished on.
“Wigan are a good side and if you give them an opportunity they are going to take it and they did.”
