Wigan’s slide shows how high Warnock has raised the bar for Cardiff

IF you want an indication of the unforgiving nature of the Championship, ask Aston Villa. Or Derby County. Or Nottingham Forest. Actually, ask Wigan Athletic. The Latics, beset by fear and desperation, fell short of the mark in terms of quality against a resolute Cardiff City team at the DW Stadium. The scoreless draw was far more damaging for Graham Barrow’s troops than it was for Cardiff, bobbing along in the calm waters of mid-table.

It was the result that very nearly confirmed Wigan’s relegation to League One. Their inability to demolish the Bluebirds’ wall cost them dearly.

Asked to set the agenda and make all the running on a bright spring day, Wigan latterly turned to Nick Powell, a player once so highly regarded by Sir Alex Ferguson at Manchester United, that he decided to allow young Paul Pogba a Juventus move that would later cause the club an expensive embarrassment.

Yet Powell, tasked with cutting open Neil Warnock’s Cardiff side, was blunt.

Bruno Manga and Sean Morrison saw to that and, as Aron Gunnarsson and Joe Ralls swarmed the former Crewe Alexandra wonderkid in midfield, the Latics faithful began to lose hope and drift home; because they know the unforgiving nature of the Championship better than Villa, Derby, Forest or any of the 21 teams who will not earn promotion to the Premier League this season.

Even Newcastle United – with their 50,000 crowds and Champions League winning manager – are hobbling over the finish line.

Wigan’s near-certain relegation from the division continues an undignified fall from grace for the 2013 FA Cup winners, no doubt glaring enviously as Chelsea and Tottenham Hotspur played out a thrilling semi-final in the world’s oldest cup competition that was once held by the Latics.

Which is what makes Warnock’s promotion goal so bold. If players like Jack Grealish, Will Hughes and Powell aren’t good enough to earn promotion, why should Bluebirds fans believe Ralls and Matt Connolly can achieve it?

People will say it boils down to the manager. ‘In Warnock we trust,’ they say in corners of Canton these days. They trust he will find an adequate replacement for magnificent Manga, should he depart in the summer. They trust he can inject creativity and guile into a lacklustre midfield.

Because even the Bluebirds’ veteran boss knows he must bolster this squad to turn such an ambitious claim into a reality.

On this showing at Wigan, Cardiff are still miles away from the the likes of Newcastle, who visit the Welsh capital on Friday night.

The Bluebirds’ spine is strong, but Warnock admitted he must find that sprinkle of gold dust in his summer dealings.

He needs options off the bench, players who want their ball at the feet. For so long during this dour battle, the ball was headed aimlessly between the teams. Nobody was willing to take it down and play. Except Powell.

For as much as the careers of Wigan’s kingpin and fellow former Red Devils Gabriel Obertan and Ryan Tunnicliffe have taken a turn for the worse since their brief Old Trafford dalliances, they were the ones pulling the Bluebirds here and there. They pressed.

Connolly and Joe Bennett barely crossed the halfway line, while Anthony Pilkington was playing in a different postcode to his teammates at times during a torrid first half in which – had Cardiff been facing better opposition – they would surely have trailed.

Warnock camped 10 players behind the ball and frustrated Wigan.

And, while the Latics lacked the end product to punish the Bluebirds, there was barely an attacking threat to speak of for the visitors.

Granted, the hosts were under pressure to win, which ensured blue shirts streamed forward at every opportunity, but good teams would have pounced on the counter and swatted away the second worst team in the Championship with clinical ease.

Next season, Cardiff must come away from these away trips with three points in their pockets.

Warnock may have turned Cardiff City Stadium into a fortress of late, but you cannot build a promotion campaign on home form alone.