On loan striker Leon Clarke was carried off wearing a neck brace

Wigan’s nightmare season took another turn for the worse with an emphatic 3-0 home defeat to Charlton.

A clinical finish by Frederic Bulot and a header by Igor Ventekele gave the Addicks a 2-0 half-time lead before substitute Chris Eagles added a third late on.

The result which dumps Latics deeper into relegation trouble was compounded by a serious head injury to striker Leon Clarke and a hamstring injury for midfielder William Kvist.

Malky Mackay made one change to the team which won at Reading on Tuesday night, with the injured Chris Herd replaced by Kim Bo-Kyung in central midfield.

Latics started brightly and dominated proceedings in the opening fifteen minutes, creating a series of chances.

In the sixth minute Marc-Antoine Fortune broke away from several challenges before forcing a low save from Addicks keeper Stephen Henderson.

Henderson was then forced to tip over Leon Clarke’s header from the resulting corner.

Soon afterwards Fortune was desperately unlucky not to put Latics ahead, when he headed narrowly wide from Sheyi Ojo’s cross to the back post.

Latics were well on top, and it seemed only a matter of time before they would take the lead. But the game turned in the Addicks favour in the 18th minute when William Kvist was injured in a fifty fifty challenge and the ball broke to Frederic Bulot on the left hand side of the penalty area and he smashed the ball past Ali Al-Habsi.

Wigan were in shock that they had conceded after dominating and matters got worse about 15 minutes later when on loan striker Leon Clarke went down with a neck injury and had to be carried from the field wearing a neck brace.

The Latics players heads went down as both Kvist and Clarke had both been forced to leave the field through injury.

Charlton went further ahead in first half stoppage time when Igor Vetokele was allowed far too much room in the centre of the penalty box and he headed comfortably past Al-Habsi to double the lead.

Given the scoreline and the injuries Latics had a mountain to climb in the second half.

Initially they tried to fight back with Sheyi Ojo looking lively but Charlton should’ve been further ahead in the 52nd minute, when Vetokele raced clear of the defence and had the goal at his mercy, only to narrowly miss the target.

Tony Watt had a similar opportunity five minutes later, but he too put his effort wide of Al-Habsi’s goal.

Harry Maguire’s header forced a save from Henderson and James McClean almost pulled a goal back when he cut in from the right and beat two defenders, before firing over the crossbar.

But with two minutes of normal time remaining Charlton added a third when substitute Chris Eagles completed a neat move to score from close range.

It was another desperately disappointing home defeat that leaves Latics second bottom in the table, six points away from safety and having played a game more than their rivals.

Wigan have not won at the DW Stadium since August and unless they can start to put together a sequence of home wins any hopes of avoiding relegation are unrealistic.

The opportunity to build momentum after the away victory at Reading had been lost and the increasing number of injuries to key players has now made the prospect of a great escape look even more unlikely.