THE dream start turned into a nightmare as Wigan failed to negotiate the proverbial banana skin and slipped up badly against division two's bottom side.
On paper it was no contest - Wigan four wins, Vale none from the four opening games - and as winning manager Brian Horton gleefully admitted: "It was a real coupon buster - but football's a daft game."
Ian Armstrong hit the winner seconds before half time, left unmarked and happy to pick his spot but Vale had to survive a nailbiting finish.
Twice skipper Jason de Vos had headers cleared off the line, Lee McCulloch lashed one wide, and Gary Teale just skimmed the crossbar.
The fickle among the Wigan fans actually raised a boo or two at the end, but manager Paul Jewell was quick to defend his players.
League
"I'll have to check where we are in the league," he said. "If anyone had offered us 12 points from the first five games we would have taken it.
"Two points a game will probably get us promotion so we are still in credit. No one has got carried away with our start. We do need to improve but one defeat isn't going to change anything and I'm not going to slate the lads.
"We can't just win willy-nilly - we have to earn the right, and although we created loads of chances we didn't have that bit of devilment in the box.
"But credit to Vale, they came with a game plan and made it very difficult for us."