WIGAN secured their second successive win on the road thanks to a goal from substitute Lee McCulloch.

The Scotland striker rifled a shot into the corner in the 79th minute after a clever build-up involving Henri Camara and Kevin Kilbane. It left Bolton stunned.

They should have taken the lead in the first half. Nicolas Anelka should have made the breakthrough in the 11th minute after a moment of carelessness by Andy Webster. The Scottish defender lost possession to El-Hadji Diouf, who picked out Anelka.

The Frenchman had only goalkeeper Chris Kirkland to beat and looked set to score his first goal in the top flight for Bolton. However, he showed a lack of confidence in sending his effort into the stand.

Manager Sam Allardyce had mentioned in his programme notes about the need for his team to improve their scoring ratio. There is no doubt he would have been disappointed at Anelka's effort. But Bolton stepped up the pressure and Diouf cut in from the left in the 26th minute only to fire his effort over the bar. Two minutes later Anelka failed to test Kirkland after a good build up.

Even though it was a derby there was a poor crowd with only 21,255 attending. Not that the stay away supporters had missed much at this stage as the game was short on entertainment. However, Kevin Davies nearly put Bolton ahead in the 53rd minute when he got on the end of a corner from Gary Speed only to flick wide.

But it was Wigan that were beginning to win a lot more possession and although full back Leighton Baines strode forward and sent his shot from distance high over the crossbar they didn't have to wait long for better accuracy as McCulloch hit the winner.