Teams roaring along at the top of the Barclays Premier League or slithering along at the bottom tend to get most of the attention and hype these days. Eulogies and obituaries, it would appear, are all the rage.

Yet what about the middle-of-the-road teams who exist in that anonymous grey area between the heroes and villains? What about a team who have won five of their past six matches and are challenging for a Uefa Cup place? What about Wigan Athletic?

If not revealing a best-kept secret, Steve Bruce, the Wigan manager, would like it to be known that his team are doing quite nicely, thank you, and are on the up. Victory over Bolton Wanderers at the Reebok Stadium yesterday was no less than they deserved. “What we’ve done over the past calendar year is a fantastic achievement, but we’re not getting carried away,” Bruce said.

“It’s no fluke, though, I can tell you, and the trick is now to stay there. Clubs with tradition and history are down at the bottom so it’s great for a club like us, with our resources, to be punching above our weight. Bolton have done it before and Blackburn Rovers. So why not us?”

Much will depend on whether Bruce can keep his strikers, Emile Heskey and Amr Zaki, away from the frenzy of the transfer window. To lose one would be careless, to lose both would be criminal, whatever riches are thrust in Bruce’s face. “I have not had any bids whatsoever,” he said.

What a difference a year has made. Wigan were thumped 4-1 at the Reebok last December and Bruce, in only his second match in charge, predicted a relegation scrap. They escaped, regrouped over the summer and have crept up on the rails of more fancied rivals.

It were cold up North yesterday – numbingly bitter, actually, despite the blinding sunshine – yet the sides served up a Lancashire hotpot to warm the bones. Bodies flew all over the place in a frantic first half, with Phil Dowd, the referee, forced to flash the yellow card on four occasions.

Amid the flying tackles, Bolton’s initial enterprise proved frustratingly unproductive. Kevin Davies could have opened the scoring when put through by Johan Elmander but the last-ditch challenge of Paul Scharner was immaculately timed. It had to be or Dowd would have had to award a penalty. Wigan – despite the loss of Chris Kirkland, their goalkeeper, to a groin injury in the prematch warm-up and, later, Heskey to a hamstring pull – gradually assserted themselves. Having edged ahead in the physical battle, they played the better football, too. Jussi Jaaskelainen saved well from Henri Camara, Lee Cattermole and Titus Bramble but could do little when he was beaten shortly before half-time.

Maynor Figueroa slung over a cross from the left and Camara, Heskey’s replacement, nipped in front of Andy O’Brien. The Irishman realised it, made a hash of his attempted recovery and effectively jumped on Camara. Zaki slotted in his third goal in succession from the spot.

Bolton huffed and puffed in reply. “We didn’t play well,” Gary Megson, their manager, said. “A lot of the players weren’t up to the standards we expect.” They might have equalised, when Danny Shittu’s flick appeared to have crossed the goalline before Wilson Palacios nodded it clear. “We think it was over,” Megson said.

Shittu also went close with a header that struck the crossbar, but a draw is not in their nature. They had won or lost their previous 11 matches and, this time, it was the latter. For Wigan, no longer the grey men, the statistics stack up rather better.

Bolton (4-4-1-1): J Jaaskelainen 7 G Steinsson 4 D Shittu 5 A O’Brien 3 J Samuel 4 M Taylor 5 K Nolan 5 G McCann 6 R Gardner 5 J Elmander 5 K Davies 5 5 Substitutes: M Riga 4 (for Samuel, 64min), F Muamba 5 (for Nolan, 64), T Obadeyi (for Gardner, 86). Not used: A Al Habsi, E Smolarek, C Basham, J Fojut. Next: Arsenal (a).

Wigan (4-4-2): M Pollitt 6 M Melchiot 5 P Scharner 7 T Bramble 6 M Figueroa 5 L A Valencia 6 L Cattermole 7 W Palacios 7 R Taylor 6 E Heskey 5 A Zaki 5 Substitutes: H Camara 6 (for Heskey, 32min), K Kilbane (for Taylor, 86), M Brown (for Zaki, 90). Not used: R Kingson, E Boyce, J Koumas, D de Ridder. Next: Tottenham (h).

Referee P Dowd Attendance 23,726