Latics were undone by a strong Sunderland sise at the Eppleton Colliery Welfare ground on Tuesday night.

Latics however did have an early chance to take the lead when a firm shot from Tomasz Cywka stung the palms of Sunderland 'keeper Trevor Carson after good work from the Latics' Jordan Mustoe on the left flank.

But it was Sunderland, watched by Steve Bruce, who took the lead in the twelfth minute from the penalty spot after Joe Holt ha brought down Kenwyne Jones in the box. Ryan Noble stepped up and made no mistake from twelve yards, sending the goalkeeper the wrong way with a crisply-taken spot kick.

The home side doubled their lead in the 26th minute. Roy O'Donovan broke through and slid a clever pass to the overlapping Robbie Weir on the right. The Northern Ireland under-21 international put in a perfect low cross for the onrushing Noble who steered past Nicholls on the slide at the near post.

The game slid further away from Latics with ten minutes still to play in the first half. Noble went racing onto David Meyler's diagonal throughball and the onrushing keeper Nicholls sent the striker sprawling with the referee wasting no time in pointing to the spot for a second time.  Noble dusted himself off to seal his hat-trick

Latics could have netted a consolation in the final moments of the game when Black Cats defender Russell Anderson was shown a straight red card after bringing down Lewis Codlin in the box. But Tomasz Cywka was denied by 'keeper Carson.

SAFC: Carson, Weir (L Noble, 80), Liddle (Brown, 61), Reed, Anderson, Kay, O'Donovan, Meyler, Jones (Tounkara, 19), R Noble, Murphy.
Subs Not Used: Wilson, Cornforth.
Booked: Meyler (37).
Sent Off: Anderson (90).

Wigan: Nicholls, Kupisz, Barnett, Langley (Nolan, 61), McCarten, Routledge, Cywka, Codling, McManaman, Holt, Mustoe.
Subs Not Used: Redmond, Williams, Crane, Jukes.
Booked: Holt (40).
Sent Off: None.