Wigan 0 West Ham 1

And to add to Irons' manager Gianfranco Zola's woes his injury list lengthened when Jack Collison was stretchered off 12 minutes from time with a serious knee injury.

The young Welshman caught his studs in the turf as he went to chest the ball down and twisted his knee, eerily echoing the injury suffered by Valon Behrami last Sunday.

Early reports indicate he suffered medial ligament damage which could rule him out for the rest of the season.

For Cole the evening went from the sublime to the ridiculous.

Having picked up a yellow card for a challenge on Michael Brown he then put the finishing touch to a superb West Ham move.

A crisp passing interchange saw the ball slipped through to the striker who cleverly curled a delightful shot around the advancing Kirkland.

But his involvement ended on 37 minutes when referee Stuart Attwell deemed his challenge for the ball against Emmerson Boyce was dangerous and a second yellow card was brandished.

It meant a dismissal and, because it was a second booking, West Ham cannot appeal against it and Zola was unhappy with the decision by the 26-year-old referee.

He said: "For me it was not a reckless challenge. Carlton Cole didn't even look at the defender.

"He just went for the ball. I have seen him do it so many times. He is so good at controlling the ball in those situations.

"He didn't want to cause any damage. For me it was too much."

The match between two sides vying for European qualification was always simmering with tension and at times it boiled over.

Lucas Neill was lucky not to be given a straight red card for a dreadful challenge on Lee Cattermole just before half-time.

Instead it was the Wigan man who saw red after flying into a tackle on Scott Parker.

Mark Noble then had a couple of chances to put the game beyond the hosts but just failed to convert.

Wigan pushed for an equaliser but could not find a way past the Irons resolute defence.

Despite the sending off and the Collison's injury Zola remained upbeat and insisted a Europa League place is definitely a realistic ambition.

He said: "Why not? We are ambitious and we know that it is not an easy achievement but the players are enthusiastic and enjoying what they are doing so why not?

"We want to improve day-by-day and take it from there."

Wigan: Kirkland, Melchiot, Boyce, Bramble (Watson, 78), Figueroa, Valencia, Brown (Scharner, 64), Cattermole, N'Zogbia, Zaki (Rodallega, 64), Mido. Unused subs: Pollitt, Edman, Kapo, Sibierski.

Booked: Brown, Valencia.

Sent off: Cattermole.

West Ham: Green, Neill, Ilunga, Upson, Tomkins, Collison (Spector, 78), Noble, Parker (Lopez, 88), Kovac, Di Michele (Savio, 75), Cole. Unused subs: Lastuvka, Payne, Stanislas, Sears.

Booked: Noble, Cole, Parker, Neill, Savio.

Sent off: Cole

Goal: Cole 34

Attendance: 14,169

Referee: S Attwell