LAST week’s crushing of Arsenal in the Britannia bearpit served notice that Stoke City were not going to go down without a fight. In fact, they might not be going down at all. Yesterday, at a far from fervid JJB, they ground out a grim stalemate against a Wigan Athletic side who took an hour to stir and then might have had a hatful.

“We needed the creative players, Amr Zaki, Antonio Valencia, Jason Koumas, to provide the telling pass, but it wasn’t their day,” admitted Wigan manager Steve Bruce, “but Stoke are flaming difficult to play against.”

As ever, Stoke were fiercely combative, on occasions barely legal, but what truly sapped the soul was their unashamed absence of adventure. Afterwards, predictably, visiting manager Tony Pulis praised his team’s resolve. “We showed passion and commitment in abundance. After the furore over the Arsenal game, I was worried about the players getting up for this one. I shouldn’t have been.”

Any creative ideas Stoke may have held as they headed up the M6 were banished the moment play began. Unlike the Rolls-Royces of Arsenal, the Trabants of Wigan have no qualms mixing brawn with brain. Instead, fired by the ever-excitable Lee Cattermole, once they belatedly realised that their visitors sought only to leave with what they came, Wigan stretched Stoke.

When it came to dealing with the infamous Rory Delap throw-in, Wigan were bold. Defenders attacked the ball and in Chris Kirkland they had a goalkeeper prepared to launch himself into the melee.

Indeed, Wigan proved that whatever Delap could throw at them they would chuck it straight back. Maynor Figueroa startled Stoke with a mighty hurl of his own 26 minutes in. Stoke were content to play for throw-ins. They were awarded three in the first half but none in the second. Alas for Wigan and the notion of a spectacle, they were impotent and until the last half-hour, neither goalkeeper was troubled.

Once Wigan finally fashioned a chance, others followed. After 56 minutes Emile Heskey headed Valencia’s cross wide when well-placed, but it heralded Wigan’s bloom. Valencia curled in another penetrating cross that Henri Camara headed wide. Then Thomas Sorensen made a terrific near-post block after Wilson Palacios’s piledriver had surprised a defence waiting for a cross.

Stoke were flustered and none more so than Ryan Shawcross, timid since the 10th minute when he was booked. Indeed, as Wigan upped the ante, Shawcross and Abdoulaye Faye almost came to blows as the erstwhile Manchester United youth attempted to intervene in a dispute between his defensive partner and Dave Kitson.

Yet, Stoke did not yield. Sorensen saved athletically from Palacios and then Titus Bramble and if a goal hardly looked inevitable, it certainly looked possible. But after 90 minutes for which it seemed unfair to charge admission, Stoke had their precious second away point of the season. They celebrated with their travelling hordes as if it were three.

Star man: Thomas Sorensen (Stoke)

Yellow cards: Wigan: Bramble Stoke: Shawcross, Cresswell, Fuller

Referee: M Riley

Attendance:15,881

WIGAN: Kirkland 6, Melchiot 6, Boyce 6, Bramble 6, Figueroa 5, Valencia 6, Palacios 5, Cattermole 6, Koumas 6, Zaki 5, Heskey 5 (Camara 57min, 5)

STOKE: Sorensen 7, Griffin 6, Shawcross 5, Abdoulaye Faye 6, Higginbotham 6, Olofinjana 5 (Whelan 86min), Diao 5, Amdy Faye 5 (Cresswell 84min), Delap 6, Fuller 6, Sidibe 5 (Kitson 48min, 6)