Joe Kinnear, the Newcastle United manager, is celebrating his 62nd birthday today — yet it is highly unlikely that he will be in the mood to party after his thirteenth Premier League game in charge of the club proved decidedly unlucky.

Having lost José Enrique, the left back, to injury in the warm-up, Kinnear watched in disbelief as his side fell 2-0 behind, Sébastien Bassong was sent off for a foul on Emile Heskey and Habib Beye carried off on a stretcher and taken to hospital with a suspected fractured knee.

This was not going to be a happy Christmas for Kinnear. Bassong will now miss tomorrow’s visit of table-topping Liverpool to Tyneside as a result of his straight red card and Beye is facing the prospect of several weeks on the sidelines.

At least the Senegal defender will not be lonely. Mark Viduka will be joining him on the treatment table, after the unlucky Australia forward marked his first league start of the season by tearing his groin.

Kinnear could not mask his anger afterwards towards Mike Dean, the referee. Not only was he upset with the Wirral official for awarding a controversial penalty that allowed Amr Zaki to score the decisive goal from the spot, he was also furious that Lee Cattermole, the Wigan Athletic midfield player, escaped with only a yellow card for the foul on Beye that resulted in his injury.

“Even being kind, you would call it a reckless challenge,” Kinnear said. “One million and one things went against us. I’m in enough trouble with referees as it is. I can’t find words to express his performance.”

Newcastle, who have now lost on their past five visits to Wigan, had started brightly when Mario Melchiot cleared Viduka’s header off the line after a corner by Damien Duff.

Wigan had seen off Everton, West Bromwich Albion and Blackburn Rovers in their three previous games at home, yet it took 25 minutes for Steve Bruce’s side to create a chance, Antonio Valencia stabbing wide after the Newcastle defence had been carved open by Zaki’s inch-perfect pass. That should have served as a warning to a defence that was seeking a fourth clean sheet in six outings, but four minutes later, Newcastle were behind.

A clumsy challenge by Jonas Gutiérrez on Zaki just outside the area resulted in Ryan Taylor curling a delightful free kick around the Newcastle wall and beyond the reach of Shay Given. Taylor must wish he could face Newcastle every week. It was his seventh goal — and fourth against Newcastle — in a Wigan shirt since joining from Tranmere Rovers in July 2005.

Then came the fireworks as Cattermole, whose tackle left Joey Barton injured when the clubs met earlier in the season, clattered into Beye. The tackle provoked an angry tirade from Kinnear directed at the former Middesbrough midfield player.

Play was held up for four minutes before Beye was carried off on a stretcher, while Cattermole was left counting his lucky stars that Dean brandished only a yellow card.

However, Steve Bruce, the Wigan manager, insisted that the challenge was not a malicious one. “I’ve watched it eight times on the television replays and Lee wins the ball,” Bruce said.