Cardiff City Stadium

Latics poor start to the season continued in the Welsh Capital as they were edged out 1-0 by an impressive Cardiff City.

A second half goal by former Latics loanee Nicky Maynard was enough to seal the points for the home team who have now moved up to second place in the Championship table.

Wigan’s winless run means that they have now slumped into the bottom four, with only local rivals Bolton keeping them out of the bottom three, but the overall performance was worthy of at least a point. The visitors had more shots and possession than the home team and they should have finished one of the many chances they created.

Uwe Rösler continues to rotate his squad in an attempt to get the elusive first win, and it looked as they would achieve it in a first half in which Marc-Antoine Fortune and Callum McManaman looked dangerous.

McManaman had a header tipped over by Cardiff keeper Marshall and generally tormented the defensive midfielder Mats Daehli. Fortune led the line effectively and posed a much greater threat than in previous performances.

Cardiff created opportunities of their own in an open first period with Aaron Gunnarsson having a shot saved by Scott Carson’s legs and Tom Adeyemi testing the Wigan keeper from range.

The hapless Daehli was replaced by Cardiff’s new £1m signing Anthony Pilkington at half time and McManaman continued to be a major threat in the opening stages of the second period.

Rob Kiernan had a powerful header well saved by David Marshall and just when it was looking like Wigan might take the lead Maynard struck. The former Bristol City striker swept the ball into net from close range following Kenwyne Jones’ header from a corner.

Rösler replaced Fortune and McManaman with Oriel Riera and Martyn Waghorn on 61 minutes in an attempt to get Latics back into the game.

Waghorn looked likely to draw Wigan level on 69 minutes when unmarked in the area but his effort went narrowly wide of the goal.

At the other end Kiernan produced an excellent last-ditch tackle to deny Maynard on the edge of the area.

James Tavernier replaced Andrew Taylor on 76 minutes and the former Rotherham man produced a series of crosses into the Cardiff area in an attempt to get the visitors back into the game.

Wigan’s inability to produce the final pass and finish was their downfall and the Bluebirds held out for a confidence boosting victory.

Despite the disappointing start to the season, now is not the time to panic. The performance and statistics support the view that Wigan were the better team, and with an improved display in front of goal, a rise up the Championship table is not far away.