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Had we held on it would have been our first clean sheet on the road since March last year in the league and would have been just our fifth since Steve Davis led us to a 1-0 win at Leicester in November 2007.
But it wasn't to be, the league table will show that again we were beaten on the road, that we still have only one point away and that we are still some way behind such as Wolves and West Ham in the battle for safety.
The only good news on the day came with the two late Portsmouth goals that at least kept Hull City below us.
Maybe it was all set up to be a bad day. The journey there should have been easy enough but because of the route we had to take proved to be one long crawl at times. Still, we were parked up close to the Jungle in plenty of time to hear that Clarke Carlisle and Danny Fox had both missed out through injury with Michael Duff and Stephen Jordan coming in.
Further up the pitch there were two more changes from the side that lost to Wolves with fit again Kevin McDonald and Steven Fletcher replacing Andre Bikey and Steven Thompson.
We've probably reached the point in the season where a point at Wigan was not enough, and we certainly set off looking for all three. Graham Alexander had a shot charged down, David Nugent fired over and then only an excellent block by Gary Caldwell denied Wade Elliott as he got onto a loose ball after Martin Paterson's shot had been played into his path.
It all settled down after that start but there was just the one scare for us in front of the big Burnley following when a combination of Elliott and woodwork kept out a Wigan effort.
And indeed it was the Clarets who might then have gone on to take the lead but for a foul by Titus Bramble on Nugent that went unpunished.
McDonald, in the centre circle, headed a Brian Jensen clearance as far as Fletcher who in turn laid it off for Wade Elliott. Elliott flicked it through for Nugent who went between Caldwell and Bramble and it was Bramble who brought him down.
Incredibly referee Mike Jones gave nothing. Having seen it again there was a good case for a red card as well as the free kick but the result was that Nugent needed treatment when the game did eventually stop.
Jones had another poor afternoon, but it wasn't all one way and there is no doubt Wigan were unfortunate not to get a penalty in the second half when Leon Cort caught James McCarthy.
The remainder of the first half was at times scrappy with neither side really creating too much, but we were every bit as good as Wigan and good value for the 0-0 at half time, the first time we've not conceded a goal away in the first half since Old Trafford.
The second half proved to be a much better affair and we certainly asked more questions of Wigan than we've done most sides recently. Grezza missed the target by inches after we'd worked a free kick on the edge of the area, but Pato was to come closer than anyone.
Nugent played him in superbly on the right hand side of the box with a ball chipped over the defence. Paterson was on to hit and his first time shot hit the bar and to safety. I wasn't aware that, even before last week's Wolves game, we'd hit the woodwork more than any other Premier League team. Well there was another one for the collection.
It was end to end stuff but I did think we looked the more likely and the first real problems to us were just about self inflicted. Jensen made two saves in quick succession but they came as a direct result of him punching a ball he should have caught.
Into the last few minutes I still thought we could win it and when Robbie Blake, on for Fletcher, got the ball in for Nugent he just couldn't quite get a good enough shot in from angle, or find Eagles, also on as a substitute.
The last chance was probably gone and when the board went up for four extra minutes it did look as though time was running out for us. Probably a point wasn't going to be enough, but my thoughts were that getting it, and keeping a clean sheet, would just give us some much needed confidence.
When you're down though nothing seems to go for you, and in the third minute of stoppage time the Wigan sub Moses (not to be confused with the bloke in Horwich who thinks he's this particular biblical character) got the better of Jordan, who'd had an excellent game at left back, and Rodallega headed home the cross to allow the small number of Wigan fans present the opportunity to dance around to Tom Hark. They are one of only three clubs in this league who continue to persevere with this unfortunate ritual.
I know how I felt at that moment and as I looked round the away end I could see countless other Burnley fans who clearly, by the expressions on their faces, felt just the same. We really didn't deserve that, potentially the cruellest blow in the entire season.
We threw men forward and won a corner with even the Beast joining in. But it went across goal as the referee blew his final whistle to signal yet another away defeat just a year since we last won a league game on the road.
It's easy to criticise and point to the result, but there really were positives to take from this game. Ultimately this might well be a defeat too many and our fate might just about be sealed, but if we could perform to this level for the remainder of the season there would still be a lot to look forward to.
Not one of our team let us down yesterday, they should have come home with a lot more than the applause they received from the Burnley fans at the end of the game.
The teams were;
Wigan: Chris Kirkland, Mario Melchiot, Gary Caldwell, Titus Bramble, Maynor Figuerou, James McCarthy, Paul Scharner (Jason Scotland 34), Mohamed Diame, Hendry Thomas (Victor Moses 75), Marcelo Moreno, Hugo Rodallega. Subs not used: Vladimir Stojkovic, Steve Gohouri, Antonio Amaya, Jordi Gormez, Scott Sinclair.
Yellow Cards: Titus Bramble.
Burnley: Brian Jensen, Tyrone Mears, Michael Duff, Leon Cort, Stephen Jordan, Wade Elliott, Graham Alexander, Kevin McDonald, Martin Paterson (Chris Eagles 82), Steven Fletcher (Robbie Blake 69), David Nugent. Subs not used: Nicky Weaver, David Edgar, Andre Bikey, Jack Cork, Steven Thompson.
Yellow Cards: Kevin McDonald, Michael Duff, Tyrone Mears.
Referee: Mike Jones (Chester).
Attendance: 18,498.