Report by John Patrick Heeley

Wigan sent Bury to their fifth consecutive league defeat at the JJB Stadium thanks to an Ian Kilford strike after an hour but it could have been so much different but for keeper Roy Carroll who was in fine form, denying Bury on a number of occassions.

After only five minutes Carroll was on hand to block an Adrian Littlejohn effort with his legs after the Bury striker had broke clear in the penalty area.

Wigan's first real chance of note came after 10 minutes when Neil Roberts sneaked in between the Bury defence as the ball came across the penalty area and the Welshman stretched out to get his foot on the end of it but his shot sailed yards wide.

Three minutes later Roberts was in the action again with a half-volley from 30 yards but, as the ball seemed to be heading for the top corner, Paddy Kenny in the Bury goal pulled off a superb save to put it out for a corner.

A Kevin Sharp cross from the left in the 22nd minute had to be cleared behind for a corner as Scott Green threatened to get his head on the end of it and Bury had to clear another dangerous Sharp left wing cross 12 minutes later.

Minutes later a cross from the opposite flank sailed across the penalty area with four Wigan players queueing to collect but nobody managed it leaving Pat McGibbon flat on his back needing treatment from physio Alex Cribley.

A goalmouth scramble in the 43rd minute almost gave Wigan a valuable half time lead.

Kevin Sharp put Brian McLaughlin through down the left, the little midfielder raced to the byeline and looped a cross to the far post which was picked up by Scott Green who lobbed the ball back across goal and over Kenny but in the ensuing melee Bury were awarded a free kick inside their own area for high feet.

HALF TIME: Wigan 0 Bury 0

Martinez was unlucky in the 51st minute when he saw his goalbound shot from the edge of the area take a deflection of a Bury defender and go out for a corner.

Carroll was on hand again just before the hour mark doing well to block a shot from Bury.

Then in the 61st minute Wigan snatched the lead with what proved to be the matchwinner.

Roberto Martinez nodded the ball on for Liddell who beat a defender and took the ball to the line, crossed it into the middle of Bury's penalty area and IAN KILFORD was there to stab home from six yards out for his third goal of the season.

Bury's Steve Redmond found himself in the referee's notebook 3 minutes later for tripping Martinez.

Littlejohn went close to equalising in the 68th minute when he beat McGibbon on the edge of the area but managed to fire wide of the post.

With 73 minutes gone Kilford intercepted the ball from Bury and put Liddell through and in a similar move to the one that brought the goal he took the ball to the line before crossing into the area but this time Martinez collected only to fire wide from 12 yards out.

Bury player/manager Andy Preece went close himself at the other end of the park, his header from three yards out beat Carroll but nobody was on hand for Bury to put the loose ball away and a goalmouth scramble in the Wigan area with 5 minutes to go failed to produce anything for The Shakers.

Roberts was a split second too late after substitute Kevin Nicholls put the ball into the area with the help of a neat little flick on by Liddell but Kenny narrowly beat Roberts to collect.

Wigan manager Bruce Rioch didn't hang around at the end of the game as he shot off to Manchester Airport to board a plane to Scandinavia alongside scout and former manager Ian McNeill in a bid to seek out new talent.