Goals from Hugo Rodallega and Damien Duff saw Fulham survive a late scare to defeat Wigan Athletic 2-1 at the DW Stadium on Saturday afternoon.

Martin Jol named an unchanged team from the XI that defeated West Bromwich Albion 3-0 at Craven Cottage last weekend.

That meant Rodallega partnered Dimitar Berbatov up top on his return to Wigan for the first time since his summer departure, as Jol welcomed forwards Mladen Petric and Bryan Ruiz to the Fulham bench following their recoveries from injury.

Wigan kicked off and had the first shot of the match after just 30 seconds when Arouna Kone’s fierce drive from distance drew a routine save from Mark Schwarzer.

Two Fulham corners in quick succession were not dealt with in the Wigan box in the seventh minute and the ball fell kindly to Berbatov whose low shot was well blocked in the end.

There was a break in play after quarter of an hour when Steve Sidwell and Ben Watson both slid in for a loose ball, taking out referee Lee Probert in the process. After receiving treatment – and jokingly showing Watson the red card – the man-in-the-middle was ready to resume his duties.

Fantastic link-up play between Duff and Berbatov four minutes later saw the Bulgarian burst into the box before picking out Rodallega with a dinked cross. Unfortunately, the former Latics hero’s header was too close to Ali Al Habsi.

Chris Baird headed goalwards from Duff’s corner not long after but the Wigan defender on the post acrobatically cleared to keep the scores level.

Wigan were failing to cope with Fulham and Berbatov again drew a save from Al Habsi, who was forced to palm his poked effort round the post for a corner. The set-piece dropped to Alexander Kacaniklic 25 yards from goal but the winger’s volleyed effort flew harmlessly over the bar to allow the home side some respite.

A rasping Berbatov drive from some 30 yards seemed to catch Al Habsi off-guard as the keeper spooned the ball over for yet another Fulham corner as the team in black and gold continued to dominate.

That said, we needed Aaron Hughes to be at his reliable best moments later to take the ball off Shaun Maloney who had burst into the box, before Emmerson Boyce's diving header flew just wide when he made a firm connection with Maynor Figueroa’s splendid deep cross.

The goal that Fulham’s play deserved came on 31 minutes when’s Berbatov’s inch-perfect cross hung in the area and Rodallega wanted it much more than any Wigan defender to power home the header. The striker’s celebrations were muted in respect to his former club, a gesture which drew emphatic applause from the home fans.

Roberto Martinez will have been pleased with his side’s reaction to the goal as the Latics began to enjoy more possession which culminated in a rasping effort from Jordi Gomez on 38 minutes which cannoned off the underside of the crossbar before the Fulham defence cleared to safety.

Kacaniklic had a golden opportunity to double our advantage a minute later when Duff’s cross fell to the Swede, unfortunately though his right-footed effort was wild and never likely to trouble Al Habsi.

The Latics were ending the half strongly, though, and Hughes was booked for a block on a Wigan man 40 yards from goal as the home side tried to commit bodies forward.

Wigan had the ball in the back of the net shortly after the restart but a combination of Gomez and James McCarthy were in an offside position as the ball was played through.

The home side were looking to start the second period as they ended the first and Watson made good contact with Boyce’s cross from the right, but couldn’t quite get enough of an angle on his header to test Schwarzer.

Great handling from the big Australian saw him claim a difficult cross from the left from Jean Beausejour. Our keeper was under a lot of pressure and the catch resulted in Captain Brede Hangeland needing treatment – luckily it was nothing the big Norwegian couldn’t run off.

Fulham hearts were in mouths on 57 minutes when Kone was put through on goal as he outpaced Hughes. but Schwarzer made a magnificent save to deny the Ivorian. Our number one made himself huge to put the striker off as he went through one-on-one.

Just before the hour mark Jol made his first change as Ruiz came on for Kacaniklic.

The irrepressible Rodallega was really haunting his old side and a bursting run saw him win a free-kick on the edge of the box on 63 minutes. Ruiz took the set-piece and it needed a fine sprawling save from Al Habsi to keep Wigan in the game.

Wigan countered from the resulting corner and Schwarzer could only parry McCarthy’s powerful effort, but fortunately for the Whites the follow-up lacked any kind of composure when it appeared easier to score.

It proved to be a monumental miss as Fulham doubled their lead on 68 with a magnificent goal. John Arne Riise’s exquisite first time pass down the left found Rodallega who cut inside to feed Ruiz. The Costa Rican had four defenders for company but still managed to squeeze the ball out to Duff who fired across the keeper with his right foot for his third goal of the season.

After earlier bringing on striker Mauro Boselli, Martinez played his final card of the afternoon when he replaced defenders Gary Caldwell and Emmerson Boyce with midfielders Ryo Miyaichi and Callum McManaman on 77 minutes.

Fulham almost wrapped things up four minutes later but Al Habsi again got down well to keep out Berbatov’s placed effort.

With two minutes remaining, Rodallega went off to a fantastic reception from both sets of supporters as he was replaced by Matthew Briggs. The Colombian had put it another great shift and thoroughly deserved his first Fulham goal.

Wigan were given a lifeline in stoppage time as Fulham failed to clear their lines and Kone turned and fired home in the box to reduce the deficit.

The home side went pushing for the equaliser and were awarded a late free-kick following a foul by Baird. Al Habsi went up for the set-piece but it came to nothing as Fulham held on for our first away win of the season.