Sir Alex Ferguson admits he is “clutching at straws” in the hope Manchester United can overtake Chelsea on the final bend of the season. He may have to lower those expectations should Vladimir Stojkovic stand between the Wigan posts and the destiny of the Premier League trophy at Stamford Bridge next Sunday.

The Serbian international goalkeeper produced, in the kindest terms, an erratic display in the absence of the injured Chris Kirkland as Hull City’s relegation was mathematically sealed in stoppage time at the DW Stadium. Despite needing a six point and 24 goal swing over West Ham United to avoid the drop before kick off, Iain Dowie’s team – plus a sizable travelling support – refused to go quietly and should have taken survival to the final day with a first away win since March 2009.

Headed goals by Will Atkinson and Mark Cullen, the first after an erroneous offside decision was overturned by referee Phil Dowd and the second from an offside position that wasn’t identified, placed Hull on the cusp of their first away win for 425 days until Steve Gohouri’s overhead kick salvaged a draw for Wigan and sparked a mass pitch invasion. The Latics’ late joy will not be shared by anyone of an Old Trafford persuasion, however, as Wigan and Stojkovic in particular offered little to suggest they can spoil the coronation of Carlo Ancelotti’s team in west London next weekend.

Robert Martinez’s men – who have beaten Chelsea, Liverpool and Arsenal at the DW this season and deserve more respect than they have received since the league leader’s win at Anfield yesterday – had suggested the opposite in a dominant start that brought a first Wigan goal for Victor Moses. The talented winger cut inside two Hull defenders and sent a measured finish in off Matt Duke’s far post after being sent clear down the left following a mistake by George Boateng. But it was Stojkovic’s errors that altered the course of the contest.

The Wigan keeper, who once had a trial with Everton abruptly halted after just one training session, had already spread unease through his defence when he needlessly punched a harmless Boateng cross into the path of Kevin Kilbane. Two Hull strikers were offside when Kilbane crossed into the area but Atkinson arrived from an onside position to head beyond the static Serb. Dowd correctly overruled his assistant who had disallowed the goal for offside.

Hull’s second was offside, but this time there was no flag as Cullen ghosted in behind Mario Melchiot to glance another Boateng cross past Stojkovic. The ironic cheers whenever the Wigan keeper caught a cross – from his own supporters – must have sounded like a death-knell to Ferguson.

Premier LeagueWigan AthleticHull CityAndy Hunterguardian.co.uk

Wigan sack striker Marlon King after he is convicted of sexually assaulting woman and breaking her nose

A Premier League footballer was jailed for 18 months today and sacked by his club for breaking a young woman’s nose after she objected to him groping her bottom in a London nightclub.

Marlon King “decked” a slightly built student after being repeatedly “cold-shouldered” by women in the Soho Revue bar last December, where he went to celebrate his wife’s third pregnancy and scoring a match-winning goal hours earlier.

Southwark crown court heard he had boasted to his 20-year-old victim “I’m out of your league love, I’m a multi-millionaire” when she told him to stop touching her. He punched her with such force that two other revellers – one of them holding on to his arm – were knocked over.

The 29-year-old Wigan Athletic striker, a father of three from Waltham Cross, Hertfordshire, claimed he was a victim of mistaken identity and drafted in his wife, Julie, and older brother Dean Everett to testify in his favour. But after hearing evidence from a string of other witnesses, including a Sky Sports journalist who saw King in the club and a football coach who insisted he was the assailant, the jury decided he was lying.

He was convicted by a majority of 10 to 2 of sexually assaulting the 20-year-old and causing actual bodily harm.

The judge, Nicholas Loraine-Smith, told the player that in addition to the jail sentence he would have to register as a sex offender for seven years, pay £3,125 compensation to his victim and £1,800 prosecution costs.

After delivering the guilty verdict, the jury was told that since the age of 17 King had been in the dock on seven other occasions and had spent time in jail for receiving a stolen £30,000 BMW.

He had been accused of dishonesty, drink driving and other motoring offences, and violence, including common assaults on two women in 2003. Three years later he was convicted of threatening behaviour after slapping another woman on her bottom and head and then spitting at her when police arrived.

King showed no reaction as he was convicted, but sat open-mouthed as the judge told him it was clear he had drunk “more than you should have” on the evening in question.

“You approached those young women who wanted nothing to do with you. You touched them on their faces and, as the jury have just found by their verdict, touch the complainant on her backside in a way that amounted to a sexual assault. Although they and others told you politely and firmly to leave her alone you weren’t prepared to be ignored.

“Eventually and after some time you simply lost your temper and punched her hard in the face. You broke her nose, and that can still just be seen, and you cut her lip. Thereafter you tried your best to avoid any responsibility for what you had done, and you were helped in this by the nightclub for whom you were such a good customer.”

The judge said the club had pretended to call the police and allowed him to leave. “You have shown not a hint of shame at your disgraceful and arrogant behaviour. Furthermore it is not your first criminal offence, nor your first for violence.”

Referring to King’s £35,000 wage packet and the fact his contract would be revoked, costing him more than £1m, the judge added: “I appreciate this will cost you an enormous amount of money, but it is difficult to be sympathetic when you were boasting about your earnings in the way you did.”

After the guilty verdict, the Wigan Athletic chairman, Dave Whelan, confirmed the club had decided to sack King.

CrimeWigan AthleticHull CityHelen Piddguardian.co.uk