Wigan 1-0 QPR: Kieffer Moore is the hero to secure vital win

Wigan’s players showed admirable fight to record victory over QPR, on a day the crisis-club’s administrators drafted in one of the country’s leading barristers to battle a 12-point penalty.

The Championship side were plunged into administration last week and David Phillips QC, of Wilberforce Chambers, will oversee an effort to overturn the likely deduction on the grounds of ‘force majeure’ which cites unforeseen, exceptional circumstances beyond the control of involved parties. 

Going into administration carries an automatic 12-point penalty.  

Wales international Kieffer Moore fired Wigan into the lead and it eventually proved the winner

It was a vital three points for the club as they are facing a points deduction due to being put into administration and that would see them fall to the foot of the Championship table

Wigan boss Paul Cook used the drinks breaks to pass on important instructions to his players

EFL bosses will either enforce it at the end of the season for the current campaign or implement it next season if Paul Cook’s side are relegated.

Wednesday night’s victory, secured via a first-half strike from Wales international Kieffer Moore – one of those linked with a departure in what may become a fire sale to secure the club’s existence – lifted Wigan eight points from danger.

Cook, who spent a large part of Wednesday calling some of the 75 staff who have been made redundant at club, said: ‘We had to win tonight because it would have flattened the town if we’d have lost and we would have gone down with a whimper. 

‘It’s been a bad week but we’re not as flat as the people who have been made unemployed.’

Cook added that he was treating the situation as though the punishment was a certainty. 

‘We have to assume we are getting minus 12,’ he said. 

‘But we’ve got plenty of fight in us, believe me.’

Earlier on Wednesday, EFL chairman Rick Parry said there needed to be ‘collective responsibility’ for Wigan’s plight. 

They went into administration four weeks after they were sold from one Hong Kong based company to another, both of which had the same majority shareholder at the time. 

Parry rejected claims from the club’s owner that Covid-19 was to blame for the decision to withdraw funding. 

Wigan started strong and looked like the side with more to play for and so it went on to show

Both sets of players get some water on board during the drinks breaks during the first half

Wigan’s Antonee Robinson (left) chases down a loose ball under pressure from his marker

Mark Warburton (near) cuts an animated figure after seeing Moore put his side behind

Wigan did enough to frustrate QPR for the remainder of the game and held on for a key win