Emile Heskey scored his first goal for seven months to give Wigan Athletic a crucial win in their relegation showdown with Bolton Wanderers.
The Latics are now six points off the drop zone, despite playing with 10 men for 86 minutes following an early red card for midfielder Jason Koumas.
Heskey's 34th-minute winner ended a 20-match goal drought.
Coming into the match there was plenty riding on the encounter for both sides given the perilous relegation picture, with Bolton manager Gary Megson making an unsurprising nine changes to his side in the wake of Thursday's UEFA Cup defeat at Sporting Lisbon.
deserved lead
Referee Steve Tanner handed out an early red card as Koumas just caught Cahill as the pair challenged for a 50-50 ball.
By the interval, the 10 men of Wigan had taken a deserved lead, with Heskey back on the scoresheet for the first time since the third match of the season on 18th August.
Prior to that, he had planted an eight-yard header narrowly wide in meeting a right-wing cross from Antonio Valencia, while Wilson Palacios flashed a 20-yard drive inches past the right-hand post.
Then came what proved to be the winning goal, sparked by a clearing header off the line by Ivan Campo to a towering far-post header from Paul Scharner after he had risen to meet a Palacios corner.
From the ensuing throw, captain Mario Melchiot looped a hanging ball into the heart of the area where Heskey stole in front of Gretar Steinsson to hook the ball home on the volley from eight yards.
far busier
That inevitably roused Bolton from their slumber, and El Hadji Diouf saw a close-range effort ruled out for handball.
Wigan goalkeeper Chris Kirkland made his first save just before the break in latching onto a diving header from Grzegorz Rasiak, who had replaced the injured Tamir Cohen moments earlier.
Kirkland was far busier after the break as Bolton finally made good use of their numerical advantage, initially blocking at point-blank range a 47th-minute effort from Kevin Nolan.
Kirkland then held everything Bolton pumped into the area, although he was saved by Emmerson Boyce at one stage as he blocked an inadvertent goalbound kneed clearance from Scharner.
Wigan were rarely troubled in the closing stages until injury-time - when Erik Edman cleared a Nolan header off the line after he had seized upon a Heskey backflick to a long throw from Campo.
