Victory came courtesy of Nathan Ellington's second goal in as many matches - although there was an element of luck in the decisive strike, which took a wicked deflection past Ipswich goalkeeper Kelvin Davis.

That Ipswich held out for almost an hour owed much to Davis' alertness, not to mention the appearance of the assistant referee's flag as Andy Liddell's effort was ruled out for offside in the first half.

Ipswich can have few complaints with the defeat, which is sure to leave manager Joe Royle with more questions than answers as he attempts to arrest a four-game winless streak in the league.

Jimmy Bullard was the architect behind Wigan's attacking thrusts. He brought a smart save out of Davis in the 14th minute, shortly after Davis had turned away Ian Breckin's stooping header from a Bullard corner.

Ellington tested Davis with a powerful drive, the goalkeeper's parry at least sparing Jermaine Wright's blushes for a horribly wayward pass.

It needed a goal-line clearance from Fabian Wilnis, following another testing Bullard corner, to preserve the status quo as Wigan's dominance continued, although Drissa Diallo went close with a header across the face of goal late in the first half.

Davis needed to be alert to deny the influential Bullard and livewire Ellington, the latter of whom failed to generate sufficient power with his header.

The goal that Wigan's play warranted arrived in the 57th minute, Ellington hooking the ball home via an Ipswich body after Jason Jarrett's cross was not cleared.

Ipswich went close to grabbing an immediate equaliser as Pablo Counago, a half-time replacement for Darren Bent, rounded Filan before having his goalbound shot cleared by Breckin.

Peter Kennedy and Bullard continued to pepper Davis' goal, while Marcus Bent's lack of composure inside the six-yard box cost Ipswich arguably their best chance to level matters.

BBC