A captain's try late in the first half from Great Britain star Sean O'Loughlin and some determined defending after the break gave Wigan a slender 8-4 victory over Wakefield on a horrible night at the JJB Stadium.

The visitors had led through two penalty goals from centre Tony Martin before O'Loughlin took a short ball from Mickey Higham to drive his way over through the massed defence on the Wakefield line.

A Pat Richards conversion and a penalty goal early in the second period completed the scoring on a night where the conditions came out firmly on top, although both sides were not short on effort in front of a crowd of 12,933.

Wakefield's Jason Golden and Wigan's Micky Higham were both sent to the sin bin on a scrappy night.

And it was Golden who could have earned a share of the spils in the final minute, when he was held up over the line with what could have been the equalising score.

Wigan: Richards, Calderwood, Goulding, Carmont, Colbon, Mathers, Leuluai, Fielden, McIlorum, Coley, Bailey, Hansen, O'Loughlin. Replacements: Higham, Paleaaesina, J. Tomkins, O'Carroll.