United left Lancashire on Friday having finally found the net at the JJB Stadium at the fifth time of asking and with results elsewhere keeping us in twelfth position. 

Other than that though, Newcastle's latest Boxing Day misadventure was as gloomy as any of those we've suffered in the last two winless decades.

The implosion began with Jose Enrique limping out of the pre-match warm-up, forcing Joe Kinnear to shoehorn Charles N'Zogbia into the left back position that he's patently incapable of filling from a defensive perspective.

An unimpressive opening spell from both sides then saw the deadlock broken just before the half hour, when Ryan Taylor rifled home a 20 yard free kick - the first goal we've conceded away from home in 323 minutes. 

That was Taylor's second goal of the season - both have which had come against the Magpies and also extended his record of scoring in this fixture to three in a row.

All but two of his half dozen career league strikes have been recorded against Shay Given and today's match programme carried an interview with the player, but still he was given the chance to score...and duly did so - with United opting not to put a player on the post.

Within ten minutes we suffered a further blow, when Lee Cattermole clattered into Habib Beye on halfway, leaving the United defender prone on the turf and needing to be stretchered off after a prolonged period of paramedic attention on his right knee.

That saw substitute Steven Taylor introduced at right back, while former smoggie Cattermole was barracked by the away fans - having crippled Joey Barton with an unpunished challenge in the last meeting of the two teams.

Further misfortune then befell us, with Emile Heskey making a strong run down the Wigan right and initially clashing with Sebastien Bassong midway into our half.

With the linesman flagging for a free kick, the two players continued their coming together until the home striker fell over in the box - at which point referee Mike Dean indicated a spot kick and red-carded the Magpies defender.

Amr Zaki crashed home the penalty, leaving us 0-2 behind and a man short, with things then unraveling still further as Mark Viduka failed to move for a loose ball on halfway. 

At the venue that saw United fans barrack their own club exactly 12 months previously with the infamous "we're sh*t and we're sick of it", the Australian then strolled from the field to shouts of "you're not fit to wear the shirt". 

His replacement Andy Carroll was hastily prepared for action and made more of an impact than the immobile Viduka - claimed later to have injured his groin.

With the increasingly erratic referee further infuriating Toon fans and players with more mystifying decisions, both Duff and Butt were booked in quick succession for dissent - taking the latter to within one yellow card of an automatic one-match suspension.

Meanwhile Latics 'keeper Chris Kirkland wasn't in direct action, but handed a small object to the referee that had earlier been flung at him from the away end.

Apparently down and out, Newcastle belatedly made their mark in the contest on 88 minutes when Carroll fell under aerial challenge from Kirkland in the box.

With Michael Owen having earlier been subbed, Danny Guthrie took responsibility from the spot - firing home for his second goal in successive away games.

However despite some frantic late pressure from United in five minutes of added time, our six match unbeaten run came to an end at the hands of Steve Bruce's side.

Last week's last-gasp goal hero Damien Duff had a glorious chance to salvage a point, but the ball failed to drop and he shot over from 12 yards.

And with Given having joined the attack in the dying seconds for a corner kick, Wigan also survived what looked like a valid handball shout in their own box.  

The final act of the game saw Carroll felledl in the box after being challenged from behind - getting a yellow card for his troubles, despite this penalty claim being decidedly more valid than the one he'd seen given minutes earlier.

Given our loathsome record on this ground and recurring defeats on this day of the year, it's tempting to write this all off as nothing more than a bad day at the office.

Despite the injury and suspension misfortunes that piled up as the game wore on however, the overall awfulness of our performance is cause for concern, as we contrived to drop points against another thoroughly average outfit.

Biffa