Mark McGhee, pragmatic as ever, did not dwell on a predictable defeat.

Within half-an-hour of the final whistle he was looking ahead, not just to the relative respite of the Carling Cup tie with Bristol Rovers but, much more importantly, the next league encounter with Preston four days later.

Albion's chances of survival in the Coca-Cola Championship hinge on such fixtures, rather than fanciful notions of returning from places like Wigan with a result.

They could not be catching Preston, beaten 1-0 at home by ten-man Sheffield United on Friday night, at a better time. Craig Brown has just lost his attacking spearhead, Ricardo Fuller, to Portsmouth.

It surely won't be long before Nathan Ellington follows Fuller into the Premiership, quite possibly next season with Wigan. The worry for Paul Jewell must be whether he can keep hold of 'Duke' until then.

West Ham and now Albion have felt the full force of Ellington's pace and power. Many more First Division defences are bound to succumb in the months ahead.

McGhee, an international forward himself, of course, in an era when the Scots were not a laughing stock, knows a good striker when he sees one.

He gave Ellington's robust partner, Jason Roberts, his break in League football, signing him for Wolves from Hayes.

When belt-tightening was biting at Molineux, Roberts was sold on the cheap. McGhee insisted it was made clear in the minutes of the Board meeting that it was the directors, not him, who sanctioned the sale.

McGhee nearly signed Ellington as well when he was in charge at Millwall. He was looking for someone to play with Neil Harris, but Ellington was not quite the right type of player at that stage.

"He has filled out now," McGhee said. "He has got bigger and stronger. He gave our back four a difficult afternoon, particularly our two centre halves, but we expected that.

"I saw him do the same to West Ham. I think both strikers, but particularly Nathan at this stage, have the potential to go on and play at an even higher level than this."

Roberts already has, with West Brom and Pompey. Ellington must be wondering why more people don't come to watch him and his impressive team.

On Friday night the Super League clash against St Helens attracted a crowd of 16,000. Saturday's attendance was half that. The rugby league crazy Wigan public don't realise what they are missing.

Yet for very nearly half of the match, an upset was a distinct possibility. Albion's game plan was working. Well organised and hard-working, they stifled and frustrated Ellington, Roberts and their team-mates.

The turning point came in first-half stoppage time. Roberts made a diagonal run before feeding Ellington. Albion had plenty of bodies back inside their own box, but he used speed and muscle to evade Adam Virgo and slot past Michel Kuipers from close range.

The writing was on the wall from that moment on and Ellington made sure it was in bold type four minutes into the second half.

Exploiting time and space 25 yards out, he bent a delicious right-foot drive over the diving Kuipers into the roof of the net to emulate his two-goal destruction of the Hammers six days earlier. It was quite a way to celebrate his 100th start for Wigan.

Danish midfielder Per Frandsen, pinched on a free transfer from Bolton, struck from similar range but less convincingly 13 minutes from time, the ball bouncing just in front of Kuipers.

McGhee revealed: "I said to my players we won't play a team as good as Wigan every week in the form they are in and the confidence they have at the moment.

"I think next week we have got a good game. Preston is a similar game to Coventry, it's winnable. This was not really a winnable game for us and that is why I look at the positive aspects of the performance.

"If we had gone in 0-0 at half time, as we really should have done, we would have been well pleased.

"It looked as if we backed off Ellington for the second goal. We saw it at Reading when Forster was given a chance and he went through and buried it.

"If you stand off a lad like Ellington in the form he is in and the ability he has then he is likely to hit the target. I couldn't blame Michel for that. He had no chance, but I thought he should have saved the third one."

It's not all doom and gloom. Alexi Nicolas, growing with every game, and Adam Hinshelwood did well for much of the match in the middle of the park against Frandsen and the talented Jimmy Bullard.

Leon Knight, who was not given a sniff of goal on his comeback from suspension, has 90 minutes behind him and Albert Jarrett looked bright when he came on. The teenager should have been awarded a late penalty when David Wright scythed him down.

Dan Harding, fresh from England under-21 duty, consigned his nightmare start to the season to the dustbin with an excellent display. He kept Gary Teale quiet and produced an exceptional, goal-saving tackle to deny Bullard early on.

That probably saved Albion from an avalanche, although there would have been one anyway but for Kuipers. He made fine stops from Lee McCulloch (twice) and sub David Graham (twice) in the closing stages.

  • ALBION: (4-4-2): Kuipers 7; Virgo 6, Cullip 6, Butters 6, Harding 8; Currie 7, Hinshelwood 7, Nicolas 7, Mayo 6; Knight 6, Molango 6. Subs: Hart, Jones, Jarrett 7 for Mayo (withdrawn 61), Robinson for Molango (withdrawn 70), May
  • Bookings: Virgo (41) foul, Nicolas (59) foul
  • WIGAN (4-4-2): Filan; Wright, Breckin, Jackson, Baines; Teale, Frandsen, Bullard, McCulloch; Roberts, Ellington. Subs: Thome for Breckin (withdrawn 84), Graham for Roberts (withdrawn 80), Eaden for Teale (withdrawn 84), Mahon, Walsh
  • Booking: Baines (36) unsporting behaviour
  • Scorers: Ellington 45 and 49, Frandsen 77
  • Half-Time: Wigan 1 Albion 0
  • Attendance: 8,681
  • Fans' View: MARK STEER (Burgess Hill) We need to start playing for two halves if we're going to stay up. The team worked hard in the first half, but some of the players did appear to go missing in the second. Kuipers atoned for the third goal by pulling off a whole series of saves to keep the score down.

JOHN TOWN (Seaford) There was plenty of effort but Wigan were the better side with the best centre forward (Ellington). We are too lightweight in midfield and need to protect the back four better. McGhee's first priority must be to tighten up the defence and play people in their recognised positions.

AMY BELL (Brighton) Wigan were a bit better than us in the first half but it wouldn't have been outrageous if we'd got to half-time at 0-0. Kuipers looked at fault for the third goal and possibly the second, although he wasn't helped by his team-mates failing to close people down.

JAMES MARSDEN (Wigan fan) I don't think we were flattered by the scoreline as we cut through them at will in the second half. Brighton didn't have anything in midfield and their defence, except the left-back (Dan Harding), looked pretty dodgy. Good luck to Brighton because they're going to need it.