FOR the past month Paul Ince has teetered on the point of departure from Blackburn Rovers. After this demolition he may well topple over the edge. Surely he still can’t think somebody else is to blame?

As the prospect of a relegation scrap became reality for Blackburn — a sixth consecutive defeat is a Premier League nadir for them — Ince stands in the pillory but pretends it is a pulpit from where he can preach the delusional notion of a vendetta against former Manchester United players who become managers.

If Ince had read a bit of history before letting his rhetoric run ahead of his judgment, he would have known that graduates from the Sir Alex Ferguson academy are no different from anyone tutored under the managerial masters of the past: Stein, Shankly, Clough and Busby. The pressures are just as acute.

Were it necessary to discredit Ince’s theory again, Steve Bruce, a former Old Trafford colleague, and his Wigan players revealed where the fault for Blackburn’s critical condition really lies. The awkward truth for Ince is this: his team lack confidence.

Hard statistics tell the grim story. Blackburn are second from bottom of the table after 10 defeats, having leaked 34 goals. That is appalling form rather than a dastardly plot. On that basis, Blackburn chairman John Williams’s target of nine wins for survival is extravagantly optimistic.

Blackburn barely competed from the moment Wigan took the lead after 10 minutes. Like a weather vane caught in a changing wind, Stephen Warnock corkscrewed one way and then the other in a tame, disorientated effort to stop a run from Antonio Valencia — the Ecuador international merely blew past him.

Valencia released his cross perfectly towards the near post, where Emile Heskey flicked it into the net with a nonchalant back-heel from the edge of the six-yard box as though he were showboating in training.

Another heart-freezing moment followed for Ince even before the acclaim for Heskey’s impudence had faded. Valencia again tore down Blackburn’s vulner- able right flank. Defenders backed off him as if he were brandishing a firearm. It was a costly mistake. His low shot went beyond Paul Robinson’s dive and into the far corner. Ince’s lips tightened into a grimace.

Blackburn hadn’t looked likely to strike back and even their brightest optimists had to concede that the game was up in the 77th minute. Valencia provided the pass, Ryan Taylor made a dummy run across the ball and Lee Cattermole did the rest.

Bruce doesn’t believe that Ince should go. “He will come out fighting and snarling to put this right,” he said afterwards. “He’s got bottle. He deserves the chance to show it.”

What Ince needs are new signings to put some health into Blackburn’s sickly body. The defence is nervy and undisciplined. The midfield lacks bite and nous — the very qualities that Ince revealed so routinely when he played. Wherever he went, Ince relished his label as The Guv’nor. How noticeably Blackburn lack one on the pitch at the moment.

“We’re hurt,” said Ince. “The next game against Stoke \ is a massive one for us. We made it impossible for ourselves here. Even if Alex Ferguson or Fabio Capello had been in charge, they’d have had their backs against the wall. We conceded two goals in 12 minutes. You can’t do that and expect to get anything out of the game.”

So much of the advance publicity for this Lancashire derby was focused on Ince’s predicament that it obscured the fact that Wigan are climbing the table. But what people will remember is Bruce teaching Ince a basic lesson about the significance of width. Every time Valencia charged along the touchline, or cut inside, the alarm bells rang for Blackburn. Now the bell tolls for Ince, who is 7-2 on to be the next Premier League manager out of a job.

Star man: Antonio Valencia (Wigan)

Yellow cards: Wigan: Brown Blackburn: Nelsen

Referee: H Webb

Attendance: 18,003

WIGAN: Kirkland 7, Taylor 7, Scharner 7, Bramble 7, Figueroa 7, Valencia 9 (De Ridder 87min), Brown 7, Cattermole 7, Melchiot 7 (Kilbane 79min), Heskey 8 (Camara 83min), Zaki 7

BLACKBURN: Robinson 7, Ooijer 6, Samba 6, Nelsen 7, Warnock 5, Emerton 6, Andrews 6 (Treacy 78min), Pedersen 6 (Dunn 45min, 7), Kerimoglu 6 (Roberts 60min, 6) Derbyshire 6, Santa Cruz 6