Stoke 0 Wigan 1:ROBERTO MARTINEZ turned on his heels as soon as he spotted the danger but was quickly wrestled to the ground, doused in champagne and thrown into the air by delirious Wigan players. It was the only escape he could not time to perfection on an exhausting afternoon in the Potteries.

Wigan survived thanks to a performance at Stoke that encapsulated their entire season: dreadful start, torturous middle and rousing finale inspired by a manager’s intelligent interventions and his players’ refusal to capitulate.

With 13 minutes of the season to go the Latics were down. Then Manchester United edged ahead against Blackpool and, two minutes later, Hugo Rodallega headed Maynor Figueroa’s inviting cross beyond Asmir Begovic.

This was the first time in two seasons as Wigan manager that the Spaniard had achieved back-to-back league victories.

“It is an unbelievable feeling. The squad has been written off many times but I knew the talent we had. We just had to show more than that. We couldn’t have won our last two games purely on football concepts. Two-nil down against West Ham at half-time last week and again here today we needed to show bravery and we needed to be men. We showed that and, with our performances in the second half of the season, I think we deserve to stay in the Premier League.”