Wigan - 1 Sunderland - 0: It was only once the celebrations had fizzled out that Jason Roberts realised he had made history. "It sunk in when the boys started talking about it being this club's first goal in the Premiership," the striker said. Now a first goal has prompted a first win, and Wigan are up and running.

It will hardly concern Wiganers that this was a fortunate victory chiselled from a deeply unconvincing performance far removed from the display that almost saw off Chelsea on the opening Sunday. This arena erupted upon Saturday's final whistle, the emotion as much relief as ecstasy, but the implications of a win can be far reaching.

Roberts, who has had spells in the Premiership with West Brom and Portsmouth, was eager to stress as much to wide-eyed team-mates.

"I'd never really sat down with the other players to talk about this league before," said the striker. "The one thing I would say is that your chance to make an impact goes very quickly and you have to make sure you give a good account of yourself. You wait for your first win, and work so hard for it, but once it comes you approach the next match with a whole new mindset."

Wigan have a fortnight now to enjoy life clear of the foot. Paul Jewell's frantic scramble for recruits over the next few days will be made from a position outside the bottom three, with bids of £7 million and £5 million lodged over the weekend for a pair of overseas players.

"If we had lost, good-quality players would have looked at the table and seen we had no points after three games," said Jewell. "So this can't do any harm."

He must hope that any potential signings will not have scrutinised the performance which earned the Latics' first points. "We murdered them for 12 seconds," added the manager, which was an accurate reflection of the balance of play throughout the game.

From the kick-off Jimmy Bullard pumped high into the Sunderland area where Gary Breen fluffed a defensive header and, in the frenzy that followed, tripped Roberts. The forward slid in the penalty then admitted that he and his team-mates subconsciously "felt as if we had to hang on".

Sunderland did not have the bite to punish such caution. For the second successive Saturday they impressed, with Dean Whitehead and the busy Andy Welsh generating energy. But they had created little at Liverpool seven days previously, and what chances they eked out here were choked.

Breen offered an apology for his early mistake, which cost Sunderland a 19th successive Premiership defeat, though the home side were nothing but thankful. "It's monkey-off-the-back time," said Jewell.

Guardian Service