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If Manchester United accept the £7m that Hull City have offered for Frazier Campbell, the Tigers will undoubtedly offer more bite up front, but it was at the back where they were horribly exposed yesterday. Without Anthony Gardner, George Boateng and Marlon King, the spine of the team that beat Fulham on the opening day of the season, City were embarrassed by a Wigan team which looked capable of beating far stronger opposition than was provided.

This was the sort of result, and more to the point performance that City supporters can only hope does not become a feature of the season. To concede as early as the fifth minute was bad enough for the Tigers, but the nature of the concession made it far worse.

Craig Fagan had pulled an early shot wide, and City were looking keen when they conceded a corner on their left. Kevin Kilbane swung it in low towards the near post, surprising both City full-back Sam Ricketts and goalkeeper Boaz Myhill, but with no Wigan strikers challenging, the clearance should have been a formality. Instead Ricketts, turning back towards his own goal, just got enough on the ball to slice it past the out-of-position Myhill.

The City fans were still shaking their heads when their team went two down, and again the defending was naive. Emmerson Boyce’s headed clearance from a City corner reached the Egyptian striker Amr Zaki, who volleyed the ball across the field towards Antonio Valencia, on the right touchline and still inside his own half. The Honduran cut inside Wayne Brown and with nobody left between him and Myhill, Valencia simply outpaced the attempted cover and slid the ball past the exposed goalkeeper.

Hull could have been level three minutes into the second half. First, Michael Turner glanced Andy Dawson’s curling cross just over the bar, and then Wigan goalkeeper Chris Kirkland saved well from Richard Garcia. He shouldn’t have been given a chance by the Australian, put clear by Geovanni after Caleb Folan had unexpectedly won possession from Boyce, but the shot was far too close to the goalkeeper.

City manager Phil Brown sent on the ageing and far from light brigade of Dean Windass and Nick Barmby, a fair punt if he hadn’t taken off Geovanni, the one player who looked as though he might have the ability to unlock the Wigan defence.

The pair hadn’t been on the field long when Wigan made the game safe. Yet again the goal should have been prevented, the long cross-field ball to Valencia giving the Hull defence every opportunity to intercept, just as they should have got to Valencia’s pull-back before it arrived at the feet of Zaki. The striker’s shot through a crowd of players beat Myhill to his right.

Wigan’s fourth, with more than 20 minutes still to play, summed up Hull’s afternoon. Defender Brown’s attempted back header from 15 yards outside his penalty area was ridiculously ambitious, and Emile Heskey duly intercepted, rounded Myhill, and drove his shot home.

That Zaki should make it five with a driven shot that bounced down off the crossbar and over the line simply rubbed salt in an already fatal wound. So too must have Steve Bruce’s suggestion that this was in fact the worst Wigan have played this season.

“It sounds stupid, but there it is,” he said. “We got off to a great start, but if they’d got one back at the start of the second half it would still have been a difficult afternoon. As it was they had to chase the game, and that’s very, very difficult.”

Manager Brown, who confirmed the signing of Sunderland defender Paul McShane on a season-long loan, said Wigan had exploited his having to put out a “Championship” team.

“They had five shots and scored five times, which is tough to swallow, but I said to my players at half-time that Hull City were beating Hull City,” he said. “At this level every player has to be 100%, and one or two of our players weren’t that. We didn’t give ourselves a chance.”

Star man: Antonio Valencia (Wigan)

Referee: M Jones

Attendance: 24,282

Hull: Myhill 5, Ricketts 4, Turner 5, W Brown 3, Dawson 5 (Mendy 71), Fagan 5, Marney 4, Ashbee 5, Garcia 5 (Barmby 60min, 5), Geovanni 6 (Windass 56min, 5), Folan 5

Wigan: Kirkland 6, Melchiot 6, Boyce 6, Bramble 6, Figueroa 6, Valencia 8, Palacios 7, Cattermole 7 (Kapo 79min), Kilbane 6 (M Brown 56min, 5), Zaki 7, Heskey 7