Wigan Athletic 0 - 2 Fulham

Wigan Athletic suffered their eighth successive defeat to slump to the bottom of the Premier League table as goals from Clint Dempsey and Moussa Dembélé earned Fulham a valuable win.

The home side had the better of the game but their finishing let them down with Gary Caldwell heading over in the first half and Victor Moses and Maynor Figueroa both hitting the woodwork in the second. Fulham were more clinical, Dempsey finishing off a break in the 41st minute to put them ahead, before Dembélé clinched a first away victory of the season four minutes from time.

As at Newcastle last week, Wigan were punished for not taking their chances, but Roberto Martínez saw plenty of positives in his side's showing. "I was delighted with the performance but it was a day when the result was very, very important because of the run of negative results that we've had," said the Wigan manger. "From a tactical and technical point of view, it will be difficult to explain the result, but I think it's quite clear emotionally and at the moment we're in, we don't have any momentum and we're getting heavily punished."

Wigan's misfortunes began early in the game when they were forced into an early change, bringing on James McArthur after Mohamed Diamé came off worst in a challenge with Steve Sidwell. Diamé will have a scan on his ankle on Sunday.

Wigan slowly began to exert some pressure of their own and, approaching the half-hour mark, they really should have gone ahead. Ben Watson volley was expertly tipped over the bar by Mark Schwarzer.

From the resulting corner, the Wigan captain Caldwell was left unmarked eight yards out but could only head over.

After an uninspiring beginning, the game had opened up, and Johnson might have done better than shoot weakly at Ali Al Habsi when he found himself in space on the right of the area.

There was a heart-in-mouth moment for Schwarzer when he fumbled Moses' low cross-shot but, with Rodallega waiting, the ball bounced just past the post.

Instead it was Dempsey who opened the scoring for Fulham. Danny Murphy found Bobby Zamora on the left and his low cross was perfect for Dempsey, whose shot bounced into the net despite the best efforts of Ali Al-Habsi.

Still Wigan could have been level at half-time as Moses got a foot to Watson's shot but, with Schwarzer struggling, the ball flew just the wrong side of the post.

Wigan began the second half brightly but still the clear-cut chance would not come and, at the other end, Figueroa had to be alert to deny Johnson after Zamora broke away down the left.

The Latics' luck was certainly out in the 54th minute, whenwith Moses hitting a stunning volley from 25 yards out that had Schwarzer well beaten but bounced off the angle of post and bar. Rodallega was first to the rebound but was flagged offside.

Fulham were struggling to get out of their own half but they remained a threat on the break, however and, in the 62nd minute, Zamora got on the end of a long ball and smashed a volley off the top of the bar.

beforeThe visitors appeared to have ridden out the storm, but Schwarzer needed the help of his woodwork again in the 84th minute, when Figueroa drove forward and struck a swerving shot that Schwarzer thought was going well wide but in fact bounced off the post.

Wigan's fate was sealed two minutes later as the defence backed off and allowed Dembélé the freedom to run to the edge of the area and shoot wide of Ali Al-Habsi.

Martin Jol, the Fulham manager, saw parallels in Wigan's defeat with his own side's loss to Everton last Sunday. "It was the same situation we had last week," the Fulham manager said. "They could have scored, then on the break we scored our goal. In the 89th minute we could have scored a winner twice, then Everton scored. That was an awful feeling and Wigan probably have the same feeling today."

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Premier League 2011-12 · Wigan Athletic · Fulham · Premier League
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See also
30 Oct 2010
Fulham ease past woeful Wigan Athletic thanks to Clint Dempsey double
8 Nov 2009
Fulham indebted to Mark Schwarzer as Wigan fluff their lines
23 Dec 2007
Dempsey leveller ends Fulham drought
24 Jan 2011
Andy Johnson shines again as a revitalised Fulham dazzle a dull Stoke