Soccer:Alex Ferguson conceded Manchester United got what they deserved last night as they had their lead at the top of the Premier League cut to five points by Wigan. The Latics had not even managed a draw in 14 previous meetings with their north-west neighbours, but Shaun Maloney's curling strike four minutes after the break brought that record to an end and allowed Wigan to clamber out of the relegation zone for the first time since October.

“Wigan were the better team,” said Ferguson, as his side had an eight-match winning run brought to an end, suffering their first defeat since January in the process. “They are very under-rated team and we were completely dominated in the first half. We were second to every ball and only had one shot at goal.

“It was one of these off nights you get. We have been on a great run and it has put us in a position where we can win the league, so we have to get over the disappointment of tonight.”

Ferguson did condemn the performance of referee Phil Dowd though. After ruling out what appeared to be a perfectly good first-half Victor Moses header, Dowd will learn from TV replays that the corner from which Wigan scored their winner should have been a goal kick. But the decision that really vexed United was the handball claim against Maynor Figueroa, who blocked Phil Jones’ cross with his arm but amazingly went unpunished.

“Figueroa didn’t seem to handle it — he did handle it,” said Ferguson. “The thing is if he had been close to Phil Jones then you would say you are not going to get that kind of decision but he was 15 yards away. That was disappointing.

“Sometimes you get the breaks and sometimes you don’t. It evens itself out over the season. They talk about the big clubs getting all the big decisions but tonight we didn’t get one.”

United must now ensure they do not stumble in home games against Aston Villa and Everton to ensure they head into the Manchester derby at the Etihad Stadium on April 30th with a clear advantage.

For opposite number Roberto Martinez though, there must have been a sense of relief given the Moses disallowed goal followed a succession of incorrect calls that cost his team any hope of grabbing a deserved point at Chelsea on Saturday.

“It has been such a tough week since the Chelsea game,” he said. “But we could not to feel we had someone to blame or be sorry for ourselves. It was very important that we focussed on our performance. At half-time it was exactly the same. The players had a real anger about them but we used it to our advantage.

“The players showed a mature side to their approach. To perform like we did, against Manchester United, with the record we had against them, speaks volumes about the minds of these players.”

Wigan are now nine points ahead of basement boys Wolves, three in front of Blackburn and two ahead of Bolton. However, they still have to meet Arsenal and Newcastle in their final five games and end with clashes against Blackburn and Wolves, so Martinez is anxious his players should take nothing for granted.

“I wouldn’t like to see it as job done,” he said. “When we were bottom and second bottom I was always looking at the last fixture of the season. We play Blackburn and Wolves in the last two games. It would be very foolish for us to think anything has been done. It is great to see the points tally but we all know May 13 is the most important thing.”