Wigan manager Steve Bruce felt his side should have had an early penalty when Abdoulaye Faye appeared to foul Paul Scharner but conceded the best team won after a 2-0 defeat at Stoke.

Second-half goals from Ricardo Fuller and James Beattie ensured Wigan have now failed to win in 15 of their last 17 Premier League matches and the end of the season cannot come quick enough.

Bruce said: "It wasn't very good. We had a disputed penalty in the first half. I thought it was clear cut but when you are having a run like we are having it goes against you.

"They made it very difficult, but the longer it went on I thought they had the cutting edge and I thought the first goal was always going to win it.

"Overall I didn't think we did enough going forward and we got punished at the other end. For too long we've relied on our defensive organisation and when you look at the first goal we've had five attempts to tackle him, but Fuller is decent.

"He is the difference and he won them the game. He kept at it, he was determined, he scored a goal and he was a handful."