West Bromwich Albion 2-0 Wigan Athletic: Jay Rodriguez double wins it for Baggies
- Published
Jay Rodriguez headed in strike partner Dwight Gayle's cross for the first of his two goals, which took him to 12 for the season
Jay Rodriguez struck twice as West Bromwich Albion maintained their automatic promotion hopes in the Championship by beating Wigan Athletic.
On a day when second-placed Norwich City could only draw, the Baggies stretched their unbeaten run to eight games with a comfortable victory.
That moves Darren Moore's third-placed side to within three points of Norwich, but still six behind leaders Leeds United.
Victory came at a cost for Albion, who lost 13-goal top scorer Dwight Gayle to a hamstring injury after he had crossed to set up the eighth-minute headed opener for Rodriguez.
But Rodriguez needed no help for the second, latching onto a loose ball to turn and blast home a 25-yard right-foot volley, which went through Christian Walton's despairing dive, beating the Latics keeper for sheer pace.
That takes Rodriguez to 12 goals for the season, back to within one of Gayle, who hit a hat-trick in Saturday's 4-0 win at Rotherham.
The closest Paul Cook's Wigan came to scoring was not until the 86th minute when Reece James slammed a 25-yard free-kick against the foot of the post.
The Latics' fourth straight defeat drops them to 19th, within four points of the relegation zone, to add to a poor run in which they have won only once in 11 games and taken a solitary point from their past 10 away matches.
West Brom manager Darren Moore on match-winner Jay Rodriguez:
"I am really pleased for Jay. He showed his power today and he did some incredible work for the team off the ball and he worked tirelessly.
"Jay is a great character in the dressing room and a wonderful person, a humble man. You could put Jay in any one of the 11 positions and he will perform to the best of his ability.
"They were two great finishes and he gave us three valuable points. If there is any (transfer) interest (in Rodriguez) I can't stop that.
"Me and Jay were players together at Barnsley and his appetite now is the same as it was then. He has a real zest about him. He is a joy to work with."
Wigan Athletic manager Paul Cook:
"It is tough for us at the moment but the lads are giving everything that they have got. Our season won't be defined by today.
"We can take great encouragement from the game in general and how we played. For an away team I felt we did enough to possibly get something out of the game.
"It is a very tough league and we have got to do our best come the end of the season to make sure that we retain our status and I am very confident that we will.
"We have to keep going. You have to go through pain in football. We have had plenty of good times at Wigan and now we are having a little bit of rain through the roof and we must fix the roof."