Wigan keep their status

English FA Premiership/ Sheffield Utd 1 Wigan Athletic 2: Wigan Athletic lost a 1-0 lead, lost their captain, Arjan de Zeeuw, through injury and lost their attacker, Lee McCulloch, to a red card but they would not allow their Premiership status to be stripped from them.

Though Sheffield United, too, made raging efforts to remain in the top flight, it was the visitors who had the polish to dominate the first half and the resilience to protect the advantage once they had gone in front again.

There was nothing to muddle Wigan, who knew that victory alone could save them. Considering they had been incapable of defeating anyone at all since a success at Manchester City on March 3rd, this result constitutes a feat of motivation by the manager, Paul Jewell. His team had conviction and, until United ultimately knocked it out of them, poise.

Neil Warnock's side's would have extended their membership of the Premiership had West Ham been beaten at Old Trafford. Grievances have, therefore, been sharpened and talk of legal action over Carlos Tevez' registration will rumble on but Sheffield United could not pin all the blame on third parties.

They pack away horrible memories to take with them on the trudge back to the Championship. There was the sort of melodramatic irony typical of these occasions when the second goal for Wigan was converted from the penalty spot in first-half stoppage time by substitute David Unsworth, whom Warnock transferred to these opponents in January. As the corny fates would have it, the defender had failed from the spot for United in a goalless draw with Blackburn at Bramall Lane in September.

The losers will be tormented more by another aspect. As Kevin Kilbane struck a free-kick from the right, Phil Jagielka was probably being nudged by Emile Heskey but the referee Mike Dean took no note of that and penalised the United right back for handling with upstretched arm. Unsworth's conversion from 12 yards, low to Paddy Kenny's left, was unsparing.

Dean was loath to award penalties, as if feeling that a blatant offence alone would meet his criteria in a contest as frenetic as this. There were still 16 minutes remaining when McCulloch discovered the limits of the referee's tolerance. Having been cautioned for dissent previously, he picked up the other yellow card for a foul on Michael Tonge.

United were incapable of capitalising. When they verged on the equaliser that would have redeemed them and damned Wigan, it was because Mike Pollitt, Jewell's third-choice goalkeeper until recently, misread an 82nd-minute cross from Keith Gillespie that pinged the crossbar. The effort from Warnock's squad was immense but it was also directed haphazardly.

They had hit the woodwork after a rare piece of co-ordinated play in the 54th minute. A flicked header from Stephen Quinn exposed the square Wigan defence and the substitute Danny Webber romped on to fire against the post. Such fractions added up to success for Wigan.

With ears straining for the full-time whistle, Jon Stead turned his man and rolled the ball across the six-yard box, just beyond the reach of Webber.

Stead had levelled this match in the 38th minute. As Jagielka crossed, Pollitt did not advance in time to stop the striker from netting with a brave header. There was instead a painful human pile-up of the goalkeeper, the scorer and the Wigan full back Ryan Taylor. Only the last was unable to continue.

Until that episode United had barely laid a finger on Wigan. So startlingly smooth and sophisticated were the visitors that one began to suspect that Jewell would outdo his earlier masterstroke, when beating Liverpool to maintain Bradford in the Premiership seven years ago. The excellent Heskey had missed a chance before he was involved in the opener after 14 minutes.

He played the ball to Kilbane on the left and his cut-back was converted by the left-foot of Paul Scharner. The Austrian was a great influence. It was to Wigan's cost that the midfielder had to exert it in defence following De Zeeuw's knee injury.

Jewell's men were relatively sound and could have been at ease had Paddy Kenny not got to an overhead kick by the imposing Heskey in the 50th minute. The former England man would be pushing for reinstatement if he always pressed his case in this manner. United had no one so threatening and as they obsessively relive this campaign the broken leg suffered by Rob Hulse will rumble in the mind.

Warnock's men will have to reproach themselves, above all, for the nerve-ridden tone of this doomed bid for a third consecutive home game undefeated that would have completed a triumph for Bramall Lane.

• Guardian Service