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Ian Whittell at SunSport |
Wigan (0) 1 Fulham (1) 2
Hugo Rodallega had the last laugh over the Wigan boo-boys as he set up Fulham's first away win of the season.
But the classy Colombian turned the jeers to cheers - or, at least, polite applause - by refusing to celebrate his emphatic opener.
And when he came off with two minutes left of a solid win for Martin Jol's side, the Wigan crowd's ovation for one of their former favourites spoke volumes.
Even his former boss Roberto Martinez joined in the praise for Rodallega.
The Wigan manager watched his former striker stand motionless after netting and said: "Hugo showed real respect.
"It would have been easy for him to celebrate the goal so it was a nice gesture from him and the fans recognised that.
"Nothing hurts you more than losing a game and nothing gives you more happiness than winning, so showing the respect of controlling his emotions was a nice touch."
That respect was not obvious in the opening stages when Rodallega was booed every time he touched the ball.
But, just after the half-hour, Rodallega capped Fulham's dominant start with a great finish, rising above Gary Caldwell to powerfully head Dimitar Berbatov's cross past Ali Al Habsi.
Damien Duff scored No 2 on 67 minutes after a move which started when Rodallega slipped a neat pass to Bryan Ruiz.
The Fulham sub rode three challenges before passing wide to Duff, who planted a superb 12-yard finish past Al Habsi.
Wigan grabbed a consolation goal in stoppage time.
John Arne Riise failed to clear an untidy goalmouth scramble before Arouna Kone turned sharply to finish from six yards.
But Latics were left to rue a couple of glaring misses - the first by Kone after 67 minutes when he only had Mark Schwarzer to beat but let the ball run away with a lousy first touch.
Worse followed, two minutes before Fulham snatched their second, when Schwarzer did well to parry a blast by James McCarthy.
Sub Mauro Boselli scooped the rebound wide of an open net.
Wigan also had some rank bad luck when Jordi Gomez saw his 39th-minute shot hit the bar.
But with Berbatov so dominant, Fulham had their chances, too.
Jol said: "It was a gamble to play Hugo. But I knew he would be very eager to do something nice.
"He's Wigan's top scorer ever in the Premier League, although he only had 24 goals for them, and he showed respect to the people.
"And they showed respect as well when I took him off."
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