West Brom 3 Wigan 1: Big Match Verdict
West Brom were to regret missing that chance as, in the 17th minute, Rodallega finally ended his 11-match goal drought since signing in January.
The Colombia striker's 25-yard free-kick took a significant deflection off Brunt in the wall to wrong-foot Kiely, who could not keep the ball out despite his desperate efforts on the line.
Rodallega visibly grew in confidence and a driving 30-yard diagonal run from the halfway line ended with a fierce strike which just dipped over the crossbar.
Undeterred West Brom continued to push forward and Shelton Martis headed Jonathan Greening's 32nd-minute corner wide after beating Kingson to the ball while Fortune denied first by a perfectly-timed Scharner tackle and then by Kingson at his near post.
Valencia should have put the visitors ahead in stoppage time when he ran through on goal after nicking the ball off Jonas Olsson but he shot straight at Kiely.
Kiely came to West Brom's rescue eight minutes into the second half when he saved Mario Melchiot's toe-poke from Valencia's cut-back.
However, he could only watch as Scharner's angled left-foot shot from the resulting corner rolled agonisingly wide of the far post.
With matches running out West Brom knew they had to go for victory and Greening, after somehow running unchallenged from the halfway line, forced a good save out of Kingson when he should have scored.
Such incidents often make the difference between staying up and going down but West Brom were gifted the lifeline they needed in the 59th minute.
Fortune had turned Maynor Figueroa close to the touchline but appeared to be going nowhere when Bramble clipped him and referee Peter Walton pointed to the spot.
Kingson guessed correctly and saved Brunt's spot-kick but was powerless to prevent the West Brom midfielder smashing home the rebound.
Fortune's second in the 73rd minute made the points safe for the Baggies.
Borja Valero broke down the right and pulled the ball back to the striker and he controlled, did just enough to shift Melchiot to give him a sight of goal and fired low into the bottom corner.
As if things could not get any worse for Wigan, Zaki was carried off on a stretcher with a knee injury just nine minutes after coming on as a substitute.
For the Latics the season cannot end soon enough but a rejuvenated West Brom want it to go on just a little longer.
