Super Steed shoots down luckless Latics

Fulham 1 Wigan Athletic 0

Steed Malbranque pounced with a beautiful finish moments before the interval but it was such a terrible performance from Fulham up to that point that home fans still jeered them from the pitch.

Coleman said: “We did to them what they did to us up there in October. Tonight Wigan dominated the game for 60 or 70 minutes and we were really poor in the first half.

“In the first 15 minutes we were OK but after that were really poor. We couldn’t get anywhere near them because they passed the ball very well.

“They looked dangerous but then we scored at the death. We were booed off and rightly so.

“I was almost praying that we’d get booed off because sometimes you go off 1-0 ahead, everybody starts clapping and we start kidding ourselves.

“We were poor but I was delighted at the way we hung on. We were gritty and kept another clean sheet.

“That’s three wins out of five now and this is the best time to go on a run. We must aim to go unbeaten until the end of the season.”

Wigan boss Paul Jewell admitted his side’s finishing proved their downfall but had few complaints after pinching a home win against Fulham in October.

He said: “I always say that football evens itself out and at our place Fulham were better than us but we nicked it 1-0.

“I don’t think we’ve dominated a game as much as that for a long time, probably not for two or three seasons.

“We put loads of balls into the box but just didn’t have anybody on the end of them and that’s why we didn’t win the game.”

Referee Rob Styles brandished a flurry of yellow cards in the final half-hour as Fulham defended with gusto but Jewell refused to condemn the tactics.

“That’s football, it’s happened, but I was unhappy with Papa Bouba Diop grappling on Pascal Chimbonda in the box for free-kicks and corners.

“Obviously Rob Styles has a bit of a blind spot when it comes to that but I have no complaints with a physical game, so have no complaints with Fulham’s tackling.

“The lads kept going right until the end and showed great fitness, but we just didn’t have that finishing touch. We were fantastic but we couldn’t score.”

FULHAM: Niemi, Rosenior, Pearce, Knight, Bridge, Malbranque, Diop, Elliott (Christanval 85), Boa Morte, Helguson (Radzinski 72), McBride. WIGAN: Pollitt, Chimbonda, Jackson, Henchoz, Baines, Teale (Connolly 87), Bullard, Kavanagh, McCulloch, Camara, Roberts.

Referee: R Styles (Hampshire).