Shambles for Wigan as Bramble gifts Everton victory

Wigan manager Steve Bruce repeatedly threw his arms up in dismay at a series of baffling decisions by referee Lee Probert, but nothing exasperated him as much as the sight of Bramble floundering in the mud once more near the end of a tightly contested first half.

Buoyed by the way results went Wigan's way 24 hours earlier but mindful that his side still had to deliver, it was all going according to plan for Bruce until his error-prone central defender blundered yet again in the 39th minute.

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Taking control of a misdirected through-ball midway inside his own half, Bramble turned towards his own goal and shaped to play it back to keeper Chris Kirkland.

So far so good, but it all went spectacularly wrong for the hapless 26- year-old as he swung his right boot at the ball, made minimal contact and ended up in a heap on the floor.

Andrew Johnson seized on the unexpected opportunity of a clear run on goal and compounded Bramble's misery by calmly slotting a low shot through the legs of Kirkland.

Everton went further ahead through Joleon Lescott three minutes later and although a 53rd-minute own goal by Phil Jagielka gave Wigan some hope, Bramble's blunder proved costly, just as it did in Bruce's first game in charge against Manchester City.

Bruce was an unfailingly dependable centre back who won virtually every honour in the game and it is anyone's guess what he makes of the sort of howlers that would shame a parks player.

Twice in the second half, Bramble executed brilliantly timed, goal-saving challenges on Johnson, yet it was the moment he reverted to type that will last in the memory.

Bruce is adamant he can eradicate the one glaring deficiency that has prevented the former England Under 21 defender from graduating to the senior side, even though it could prove one of the most daunting challenges of his managerial career.

"The players did everything I could have asked of them, but unfortunately we made a mistake which ultimately cost us the game," he said.

"Titus has been terrific ever since I walked through the door, even if he did get my career here off to the worst possible start after about 20 seconds against City.

"It is just unfortunate for him that he has made a horrible mistake that has proved so costly for us. I still believe he has all the attributes to be a top player, but the one thing he has to work on is his concentration.

"Great defenders don't make mistakes like that too often and he has to cut them out. But all defenders tend to get better with age and experience and I will certainly keep working on him to try to get the best out of him."

There had been little to separate the teams prior to Bramble's mistake, with Kirkland saving brilliantly from Mikel Arteta in the 17th minute and Marcus Bent having a header tipped on to the bar by Tim Howard five minutes later.

It all changed after Bramble collapsed in an unseemly tangle of legs, as Johnson kept his cool to fire Everton in front and Lescott finished from close range at the far post after Jagielka helped on an Arteta corner.

Bruce knows how to make a substitution and it gave Wigan fresh hope as he sent on Jason Koumas in the 52nd minute.

The midfielder's first touch caused chaos in the Everton defence.

His free-kick evaded Howard's attempted punch and struck a startled Jagielka before bouncing over the line, despite Lescott's best efforts to clear.

Hardly helped by a pudding of a pitch that drew scathing criticism from Bruce, Wigan found an equaliser beyond them and could even have slipped further behind when Leon Osman chested down a Mario Melchiot clearance and scraped the post with a first-time volley.

"Given that the pitch probably suited Wigan more than us, and that we seemed to have Wednesday's Carling Cup semifinal on our minds, that was a terrific three points," said Everton manager David Moyes.