With prospective new owner Carson Yeung looking on from the St Andrews’ Kop, Steve Bruce, the Birmingham manager, secured the victory that he and his team sorely needed. But it was hard work, for the Blues had to come from behind twice against a very ordinary Wigan side before French international Olivier Kapo was able to deliver the coup de grace.

“I said at half-time [when the game was 1-1] and I’d it said all week that if we’re going to stay here and be a Premier League team we have to beat the teams that are going to be around us,” said Bruce. “Results like this one, and wins against Derby and Bolton, have given us an outstanding chance of staying up.”

Whether the ongoing saga of the club’s anticipated sale will be resolved soon remains to be seen. Yeung, the reclusive Hong Kong businessman, and Birmingham’s co-owners, David Sullivan and David Gold, held a meeting last night, which was also attended by Bruce. “Every [recent] takeover has helped that particular Premier League club and [the present owners] want us to be able to take the next step,” Bruce suggested. If they do it with or without me, I’ll abide by that decision.”

No doubt his position was strengthened by the battling qualities that his players showed. Dutch Under21 international Daniel De Ridder provided aesthetic excellence on the right flank, though this was not a general feature of the game. It was methodical and uninspiring for the most part with Wigan displaying admirable resilience to Birmingham’s early attacks before managing to make more assertive progress on their own right flank where they exploited Antonio Valencia’s pace and Birmingham defender Franck Queudrue’s lack thereof.

The 22-year-old Ecuadorian international made a series of excellent deliveries that exposed serious vulnerability in the Birmingham rearguard but the absence of Emile Heskey, who is still recovering from a fractured metatarsal, has made goals hard to come by and when Jason Koumas attempted to reach one Valencia cross with a right-footed volley it seemed only fitting that he should be foiled by his teammate, Paul Scharner, who collided with his fellow midfielder. Liam Ridgewell, the Birmingham captain, managed to cut out another cross by Valencia to the near post and when Birmingham were finally prised open it was by former Blues player, Mario Melchiot.

Inside his own half and close to the right touchline when he released a 50-yard pass, the Dutch defender’s vision and execution was almost inch-perfect. His pass fell sweetly into the path of Marcus Bent, who effortlessly accelerated past Ridgewell before he unleashed an unstoppable shot from inside the penalty area, Maik Taylor, the Birmingham goalkeeper unable to get near it.

Birmingham had been unable to show the same kind of ruthlessness despite enjoying the greater amount of possession. De Ridder did his best to find a route to Cameron Jerome but the striker needed support and it was not forthcoming. A header wide by centre-half Rafael Schmitz from De Ridder’s corner kick and a shot driven wide by Kapo from the left side of the penalty area proved as much as Birmingham could offer.

But within minutes of Bent’s breakthrough, De Ridder hauled his team right back into the game. A superb right-footed free kick from outside the area required a sharp save by Chris Kirkland, the Wigan goalkeeper, who tipped it over. Then, in his first Premier League start, De Ridder delivered another corner kick to Queudrue on the edge of the area. His header was met by Scharner’s left arm and referee Steve Tanner pointed to the penalty spot, Kapo firing low and straight to beat Kirkland.

De Ridder cut in from the right before the half was over and forced a fine save out of Kirkland with a left-footed shot. The keeper was alert again when he snatched a Kapo lob out of the air just before the interval.

Melchiot, on the overlap, found a way to unlock the Birmingham defence again when a strong run down the right and a quick cross caused Taylor and defender Stephen Kelly to mess it up in the middle, leaving Bent able to shoot into an empty net for his second. But for the second time Wigan failed to retain their advantage for long. Kirkland had to make an excellent reflex save at his near post from Jerome before Schmitz headed down another De Ridder corner for Ridgewell to score with the inside of his left foot.

With the clock ticking down, Mehdi Nafti set up Kapo from just outside the penalty area and the Frenchman fired low into the left corner. “Twice we were in the lead and twice we should have dealt with it better,” reflected Chris Hutchings, the Wigan manager, on a fifth successive defeat.

He was right but Birmingham were better. What the Midlands club needs now is for Yeung to complete his takeover.