Aaron Pressley scored his second League One goal of the season to earn Stevenage an eventful 1-0 win over Wigan.
Both sides finished the game with 10 men as Stevenage moved up to fourth and the Latics suffered their fourth straight loss of the campaign.
After a feisty start, Pressley converted a ninth-minute penalty following a Babajide Adeeko foul on Jordan Roberts.
It went from bad to worse for the visitors as skipper Callum Lang was shown a second yellow card for a foul after 34 minutes of his 250th league appearance.
There were 19 minutes of first-half added time as Boro’s Luther James-Wildin was carried off on a stretcher following a head collision with team-mate Carl Piergianni.
Wigan manager Shaun Maloney also received a yellow card just before the break amid a busy afternoon for referee Alan Young.
Chaos continued in the 74th minute, as substitute Alex MacDonald saw a straight red for a foul on Charlie Hughes.
The visitors should have equalised when Josh Magennis scuffed wide seven minutes from time but Steve Evans’ side held on to remain six points off an automatic promotion place.
