Kav: We deserve our success

Graham Kavanagh is surprised by how well Wigan have done this season.

The Latics have defied the critics who tipped them to struggle in their first ever season in The Premiership.

Paul Jewell's men have taken England's top flight by storm and are currently sitting sixth in the table and are also in the semi-finals of the Carling Cup for the first time in their history.

"I would be lying if I said anything other than it's been a fairytale," Kavanagh told Sky Sports News.

"We're sixth in the league so there's obviously 14 other managers who would love to be in our position and are still involved in two cups.

"We are having a fantastic run in the League Cup, we are in the semi-final of that and it is far greater than we ever expected, but likewise we are here on merit as we have worked extremely hard to get here and we're not going to give it up easily."

Kavanagh comes up against his old club Middlesbrough this weekend and he is shocked that they are finding themselves in trouble at the wrong end of the table

"They've obviously bought a lot of players in the summer, a lot of quality players," added Kavanagh.

"We played them earlier in the season when they were still involved in Europe and they looked a good outfit that day.

"For one reason or another they have been on a bad run and that was compounded last week with a 7-0 defeat [against Arsenal]."