West Bromwich Albion.

At the JJB Stadium sub Martin Albrechtsen was the unlikely hero of West Brom’s first league win away from home in 10 months, in a disappointing game in which Wigan were a shadow of the side which took the premiership by storm in the first third of the season.

Albrechtsen’s 55th minute goal, which was taken with the assurance of a real striker, allowed a turgid contest to flicker into life and gave 10 man West Brom hope after Darren Moore had been justifiably dismissed for the cumulative effect of wrestling McCulloch to the ground in the 32nd minute and blatantly bodychecking Jason Roberts some 10 minutes later.

Until then the contest had so little to commend it that spectators were left to trivial pursuits such as the remarkable resemblance of Jonathan Greening to Ron Moody as Fagin in Lionel Bart’s musical ‘Oliver’ and speculation as to whether Kavanagh’s extraordinary ‘hairstyle’ really is the naffest in the premiership.

In the end, Albrechtsen’s strike proved decisive – thanks largely to their dogged 10 man defence, the brilliance of goalkeeper Tomasz Kuszczak (including a truly world class last gasp save from Jason Roberts) and the uncharacteristic ineptitude of Wigan, who to the obvious exasperation of Paul Jewell managed to make absolute nothing of a stream of decent chances.