Hoping to avoid becoming the first Wigan Athletic side to fail to win any of their first six home league games, the Latics played host to a rejuvenated Cardiff City side coming in off the back of four points in two games under Mark Hudson.

Even with that in mind, however, the hosts got off to the worst possible start, with Cardiff taking the lead on the seven-minute mark. The goal came courtesy of ROBINSON, who had the simple task of firing into the left-hand side of Ben Amos’ goal following Niels Nkounkou’s inch-perfect pass.

To their credit, Wigan responded well to the early opener, with Will Keane guilty of spurning a promising opportunity on the cutback by dragging his effort wide of Ryan Allsop’s goal. It was then the visitors’ turn to waste a golden opportunity, when Mark Harris broke in behind, before fluffing his lines with options available around him.

Half Time; Wigan Athletic 0-1 Cardiff City

Cardiff started the second-half with the same sting that they began the first period with, which soon led to a first test for Amos to beat away, courtesy of Callum O'Dowda rather tame effort. The visitors didn’t end their pressure there, though, and soon doubled their lead. This time, it was substitute OJO who had a chance he simply could not miss, bundling O'Dowda’s pinpoint cross into the back of the net from close range, with 65 minutes gone. Matters almost instantly became worse, too, when Wintle guided Harris’ original effort home, only for the offside flag to end any celebrations.

The hosts did, at the very least, grab what would only prove to be a consolation goal through Charlie WYKE who nodded home Tom Naylor’s cross in a  monumental moment for the recently-returned forward. Three points did not coincide with that moment, however, as Cardiff excellently made it three via WINTLE’s unstoppable free-kick at a difficult angle to leave his side 10th, and Wigan 16th.

Full Time; Wigan Athletic 1-3 Cardiff City