Latics were again left to rue a number of missed opportunities at the Hawthorns as West Brom, and in particular Marc-Antoine Fortune, capitalised on those that fell their way to run out winners.
Despite dominating much of the game, having plenty of possession and looking dangerous in the final third, Steve Bruce's men still lacked a killer instinct in-front of goal and were made to pay as a result.
Hugo Rodallega's first Wigan goal had brought the score-line level and his performance throughout the game deserved to be that of a match-winner.
His goal-bound free-kick took a slight deflection off the West Brom wall and spun past Dean Kiely to bring the game level and open his goal-scoring account for Wigan.
However things didn't go to plan as West Brom battled through and although not playing the best of football, took the chances they did have to help them in their quest for Premier League survival.
Their opener came early on when Gianni Zuiverloon fired goalwards from inside the area only for Chris Kirkland to parry to the far post and Fortune to nod home into an empty net.
Rodallega's free-kick on the quarter-hour mark evened things up and seemed to have had the desired effect as Wigan proceeded to take the game to their opponents. Wave after wave of attacks looked as though their would only be one winner.
But when Titus Bramble brought down Fortune in the area the referee was left with no other option than to award a penalty. Chris Brunt steeped up to take the spot-kick and although Richard Kingson saved the initial effort, the midfielder hammered home the rebound to sway the game in the home side's favour.
Latics were forced to commit after that and looked as though there was to be another twist to the game Fortune sealed the win ten minutes before the end, converting Borja Valero's cross into the bottom corner to complete Wigan's misery.
Another good performance from Bruce's team, however, if the results are to reflect this they need to be more ruthless on front of goal.
