Wigan - 0 Everton - 2:This was a grim, joyless match from which nobody got what they deserved, least of all Everton, though their fortune in winning was offset by seeing their leading scorer, Andrew Johnson, carried off with what looked a serious ankle injury. There were excuses, notably the weather and a dangerously soft pitch, but very few for the visitors' poverty of ambition.

Coming to a club which had lost six league matches in a row, David Moyes sent his team out with only Johnson up front, intent primarily on not conceding. Thanks in no small measure to Johnson's injury it worked out, which the manager might contend is all that matters in the end.

Moments of interest had been few up until shortly before the hour, when Johnson, chasing yet another lost cause, went down in a heap underneath a combination of Chris Kirkland and David Unsworth. Carried off in obvious distress, the England forward was taken straight to hospital for an X-ray - Moyes later suggested hopefully it just might not have been as bad as it looked - but must have still been within hearing distance when his replacement, the teenager Victor Anichebe, won the penalty which turned the game.

Unsworth and his defensive partner, Fitz Hall, had been coping relatively easily with the lightweight Johnson, but Anichebe's strength made him a different proposition. Having been bettered by the teenager in a wrestling match on the edge of the penalty area, Unsworth attempted a challenge which was as unintelligent as it was late. Mikel Arteta converted.

Wigan picked themselves off the floor, and their determination to avoid equalling the club record for successive defeats should have been rewarded when Kevin Kilbane's pass gave Josip Skoko room to shoot from around 22 yards. The Australian beat Tim Howard but his drive came back off the bar. Everton scored another in injury-time, Arteta turning Phil Neville's low cross past Kirkland.

"I don't think anybody is going to come to Wigan and get a win in any other way," said Moyes. "We wanted to be dogged and determined, we set out not to concede, especially in the first half, and we got there in the end."

Paul Jewell was understandably disappointed. "I thought the match had 0-0 written all over it, and we'd have taken that," he said.

"I don't think either keeper really touched the ball until we made a crazy decision to try and win the ball in the penalty area. But that's how it is for us at the moment."

Both managers said they were hopeful of making new signings before the end of the transfer window. With West Brom having accepted an offer, Nathan Ellington, formerly of Wigan, is expected to give Jewell a definite answer some time today.

That would be a boost, but not as much as the return of the injured trio of Arjan De Zeeuw, Paul Scharner and Henri Camara.

"Arie gives us organisation and leadership at the back, Paul gives us strength in midfield and Camara's got that electric pace up front. Losing players like that is hard for a club like this to cope with," said Jewell.

The last time Wigan lost seven league matches in a row was in 1991, and they were relegated that season. With other teams at the bottom picking up points, their prospects look increasingly grim.

Guardian Service