Wigan Athletic 0-1 Stoke City: Josh Tymon winner condemns Latics to fifth straight defeat
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Josh Tymon's first goal since March gave Stoke a fourth away win of the season
Josh Tymon gave struggling Stoke a narrow victory at the DW Stadium and condemned Wigan to a fifth straight Championship defeat.
Tymon seized on a defensive error to drive into the box and beat Latics goalkeeper Jamie Jones with a low drive on the hour.
Moments earlier Jones had made a fine save with his feet to keep out Jacob Brown's strike after the break.
Wigan went closest in a first half of few chances when Max Power's low shot clipped the outside of the post.
The Latics did have the ball in the net in stoppage time after a goalmouth scramble, only to see what would have been only their seventh goal in 10 home games ruled out.
Both sides came into the game desperate for an upturn in form, but it was Stoke who ended a run of three defeats to climb to 17th, while an eighth defeat in 10 leaves Wigan in the relegation places, in 22nd.
Both sides have struggled for goals and this match looked no different as neither goalkeeper was seriously tested in the first half.
Tymon sent an early effort into the side-netting for the Potters, while Dwight Gayle was denied a clear shot on goal by Jason Kerr's block before glancing a header over.
Jordan Cousins curled a 25-yard effort just wide as the hosts started the second half brightly, but it failed to ignite Leam Richardson's side who have won just once in the league at home this season.
And it was the Potters who provided the greater threat after Tymon's winner on the hour, as Jones denied both Brown and Clarke late on.
Stoke City boss Alex Neil told BBC Radio Stoke:
"We've played a lot better in our last three matches in my opinion for large parts of the game, but the simple fact about football, it's about winning.
"I think over the piece we had the best moments in the game. I thought if anyone was going to win it, it deserved to be us.
"The league table hasn't really settled because everybody's beating each other, so if you end up losing you can drop into that dreaded drop zone and if you win you can bump yourself up into mid-table.
"You don't want to leave yourselves too much work to do as the season develops and we were very conscious of the fact that tonight was a very important three points, psychologically as much as anything else."