A Nathan Ellington goal 11 minutes into the second half of a pulsating encounter brought Wigan their first home victory in Division One at the expense of highly fancied Ipswich Town.
Wigan's record signing, who has been out of action for four months, bagged his second goal in two games with an instinctive flick from Jason Jarrett's mishit shot to wrong-foot Ipswich keeper Kelvin Davis to give the home side a deserved lead.
In a match full of flowing football, the lead was nothing less than Wigan deserved as they had mastered their opponents almost from the first whistle.
Ipswich keeper Davis produced two stunning first-half saves to deny Jimmy Bullard and Ellington while Andy Liddell's close-range effort was disallowed.
After the break, Wigan kept up the tempo and Daves again came to his side's rescue with saves again from Ellington, Peter Kennedy and substitute Mark Burchill.
But it was far from one-way traffic and at the other end Wigan keeper John Filan stood firm in the face of some fierce Ipswich pressure in the latter stages.
He produced tremendous stops from Jermaine Wright and Marcus Bent and when he was beaten by substitute Pablo Counago, defender Ian Breckin made a desperate goal-line clearance.
Wigan might have added a second in the closing stages when substitute Burchill broke clear of the visiting defence only to see his fierce drive parried by Davis.