By DPA
London : Wigan Athletic have earned their first win under new manager Steve Bruce as they beat Blackburn Rovers 5-3 in a dramatic English Premier League encounter that included two hat-tricks.
Wigan, second from bottom and without a win since August, Saturday stormed to a 3-0 lead over Blackburn, but a Roque Santa Cruz hat-trick levelled matters for Rovers, only for Marcus Bent to win it for Wigan with two late goals to complete a hat-trick of his own.
The victory was not enough to lift Wigan out of the relegation zone, but they moved up to 12 points, just one point behind third-from-bottom Sunderland and Fulham, who were beaten 1-0 at home by Newcastle United in the day’s late match.
Blackburn looked dead and buried when they trailed 3-0 to goals from Denny Landzaat, Bent and Paul Scharner, while Benni McCarthy missed a penalty for the visitors.
Santa Cruz gave Blackburn a much-needed lift on the stroke of half-time when he volleyed a superb goal from 25 yards (22.86 metres), and then made it 3-2 when he grabbed his second five minutes into the second half.
Brett Emerton was sent off in the 57th minute but Blackburn still levelled four minutes later as Santa Cruz completed his hat-trick, but Bent sealed a crucial win with two late strikes.
Portsmouth slipped to a 1-0 defeat at home to Tottenham Hotspur, Dimitar Berbatov scoring a late winner, Manchester City came from behind to beat Bolton Wanderers 4-2.
Bolton came from a goal down to lead 2-1 at City, but three second-half goals sealed the win – Kelvin Etuhu scoring the fourth -to extend City’s home record to nine wins out of nine and lift them into fourth, three points above Liverpool.
City manager Sven Goran Eriksson said he had needed to lift his team at half-time.
Everton are level on points with their Merseyside rivals after a 2-0 win at West Ham United – their 10th win in 12 games – while Aston Villa remain eighth despite being held to a 1-1 draw at Sunderland.
Derby County remain rooted to the bottom of the table after being beaten 1-0 at home by Middlesbrough, while Birmingham City and Reading drew 1-1 in the day’s other game.