Dempsey has Wigan licking their wounds

It was little consolation to Roberto Martinez and his free-falling Wigan that they had much the better of this early-season dogfight against opponents they expect to figure prominently alongside them in what is bound to be a grim battle for survival.

The Premier League's lowest scorers – they have amassed only six in 10 outings – were again guilty of a disturbing lack of penetration in front of goal and paid a heavy price when they were twice caught on the counter-attack, by Clint Dempsey and Moussa Dembélé.

Dempsey's goal four minutes before half-time not only set Fulham – notoriously poor travellers – on the way to their first away victory of the season, it also createda slice of international history.

The American's simple tap-in, after Bobby Zamora had caught Wigan's rearguard square with a timely burst down the left, enabled him to draw level with his Craven Cottage forerunner Brian McBride's aggregate of 36 as his country's top scorer in the top flight of English football.

Dembélé's clinching goal four minutes from the end of normal time was equally simple as the Wigan defenders helpfully stood back and watched him run from the centre circle to the edge of the penalty area before stroking the ball past Ali Al Habsi.

Those two sucker punches from a team who were otherwise lacking in attacking ideas left Wigan reflecting on what might have been as they slumped to the bottom of the table after a disastrous seventh straight defeat.

"It was one of those days," said Martinez. "We played well today and I would have been delighted with the performance had we got the right result. Anybody who follows Fulham would probably tell you that they didn't play well but they've got themselves a very important result and that is what matters most.

"But this is not a time to feel sorry for ourselves. It's a time to try to improve ourselves – to try to change the negative dynamic that's affecting us at the moment."

Martinez's postmortem when his deflated squad report for training will focus in particular on two glaring misses, both from the six-yard line by their captain Gary Caldwell, a dipping shot against the crossbar by the industrious Victor Moses and a tremendous low drive by Maynor Figueroa which struck the foot of an upright, as they digest a painful lesson.

With David Jones also going close on two occasions, Ben Watson forcing an outstanding save from the Fulham goalkeeper Mark Schwarzer and Hugo Rodallega directing a spectacular overhead attempt a foot or so too high, Wigan will rightly claim they deserved to end their distressing losing streak.

"We learned the same lesson last week," said Martin Jol, a relieved Fulham manager. "We had similar chances to win our game against Everton and failed to take them. We should have won in the last minute and ended up losing. You have to score goals to win matches and Wigan will have that same feeling today."

Wigan (4-2-3-1): Al Habsi; Boyce (Stam, 71), Caldwell, Alcaraz Figueroa; Watson Diamé (McArthur, 13); Moses, Jones, Crusat (Di Santo, 64); Rodallega.

Fulham (4-2-3-1): Schwarzer; Grygera, Baird, Hangeland, J Riise; Murphy (Etuhu, 70), Sidwell; Johnson, Dembélé (Duff, 90), Dempsey; Zamora (Ruiz, 81).

Referee Mike Jones.

Man of match Moses (Wigan).

Match rating 6/10.