Substitute Jason Kerr scored with his first touch to give Wigan a narrow but well-deserved 1-0 victory over 10-man Leyton Orient at the DW Stadium.
Wigan had an early let-off when a weak header from Luke Chambers presented the ball to Darren Pratley, who fired wide from the edge of the box.
But only a desperate header off the line prevented Wigan going ahead after a deep corner from Chambers was headed back in by Charlie Hughes.
Wigan should have hit the front when Callum McManaman fed Josh Magennis, who shot wide from eight yards.
But the game completely changed three minutes before half-time when Orient’s Ethan Galbraith picked up his second yellow card in the space of 13 minutes – both for fouls on his Northern Ireland international colleague Jordan Jones.
From then on it was attack versus defence, with McManaman shooting just wide of the target at the beginning of the second period before substitute Charlie Kelman somehow headed wide from eight yards against his old club.
But Wigan finally got their breakthrough 17 minutes from time when Jonny Smith crossed for Kerr to head home – both of their first touches after coming off the bench.
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