Cardiff City 0-1 Wigan Athletic

Wigan celebrate their winning goal

Jordi Gomez's late goal gave managerless Wigan a dramatic win to end Neil Warnock's unbeaten start as Cardiff City boss.

Cardiff were marginally the better side in a poor first half, with Sol Bamba's header cleared off the line.

Having defended for long spells, Wigan struck on the break as David Perkins teed up Gomez for a simple finish.

Wigan are now up to 22nd in the Championship table, one point and one place below Cardiff.

The goal from former Swansea midfielder Gomez may have come against the run of play, but that will not matter to a Wigan team who battled valiantly following former manager Gary Caldwell's sacking on Tuesday.

There was also a sense of fate to the fact that, a day after Warnock had claimed Cardiff are the "biggest club in Wales", it was a former Swansea player who inflicted the 67-year-old's first defeat as Bluebirds manager.

The visitors were under the temporary tutelage of assistant manager Graham Barrow and development squad coach Peter Atherton, and they were compact and competitive in the first half.

However, they looked fragile from set-pieces as goalkeeper Adam Bogdan twice denied Anthony Pilkington before Bamba's header.

Aron Gunnarsson of Cardiff City takes a shot at goal

Despite threatening from Peter Whittingham's corners, Cardiff's attacks lacked a focal point in the absence of injured striker Rickie Lambert.

They managed a handful of chances after the break - Bogdan saving from Aron Gunnarsson and Bamba heading wide - but their failures in attack were punished.

With four minutes left, Wigan's Perkins raced into the Cardiff penalty area and squared the ball to Gomez, who converted from close range.

Wigan hearts skipped a beat in added time as Joe Bennett's half-volley looked to be heading for the bottom corner, but visiting captain Stephen Warnock was on hand to block the ball on the line and secure a vital victory.

Cardiff manager Neil Warnock:

"I knew it was going to be a 1-0 result but I thought we would be the team to get the one goal.

"If you don't take your chances then you have no chance, and it felt like we were always going to get caught with a sucker punch at the end and that's what happened.

"Rickie Lambert has done well for us and we were missing our talisman today but that's life in the Championship, you get injuries and you have to get on with it."

Wigan assistant manager Graham Barrow:

"It's been a tough week, especially for the staff. I think they did hurt when Gary left the club. The win is a relief for the football club because we need to win.

"I think it was a good thing we had two days to prepare for the game - we came down last night and were together. If it was a home game, it might have been even more difficult to get them right.

"By the time they went onto the pitch, they were determined to do it for him (Caldwell) and the football club.."