Michael Owen scored his first league goal in nearly six months to give Newcastle United all three points against a stubborn Wigan Athletic on Saturday.

Owen had last scored a league goal on February 10 and will be delighted with his latest effort that gave Newcastle a much needed home victory. Wigan spent the second half with just 10 men after Kevin Kilbane was given his marching orders just a minute after restart.

Though Newcastle dominated major portions of the match, they were unable to break down a stubborn Wigan defense. Owen had four great chances to break his drought before he finally managed to put one in the net while Steve Taylor struck the crossbar with his effort.

The Magpies had failed to score at St James Park for six games and it looked as if the drought would be extended by another match before the 87th minute goal by Owen. Mark Viduka paired up with Owen in the attack and proved to be a perfect foil for the English international as his long ball to Owen created Newcastle's first real chance of the match. Ironically it was Owen's pace that let him down as he failed to break away from the Wigan defense but managed to hit a crisping drive on target only to be denied by a great save by Chris Kirkland.

Owen showed that he was nearly back to his best when he put the ball into the net from close range, after latching on to a deflection off Viduka, but his effort was ruled out for offside.

Newcastle had a penalty appeal turned down in the 31st minute when Viduka's flick-on appeared to have hit Titus Bramble's arm, but referee Steve Bennett was unmoved. Owen had a great chance of breaking the deadlock just before half time when he tried to chip Kirkland after latching on to a defensive error by Andreas Granqvist but saw his effort fly over the crossbar.

The hosts very nearly went ahead minutes before the whistle when Nicky Butt's effort from the far post was parried away by Kirkland while Taylor headed against the crossbar from the resulting corner.

Wigan were reduced to 10 men in the 46th minute when Kilbane picked up his second yellow card after a foul on Alan Smith. Newcastle continued to create chances but were unable to find that final touch to break the deadlock.

With just 3 minutes remaining, Owen finally netted his goal after heading home a Obafemi Martins at the near post. And with Wigan failing to create any real chance of scoring, Newcastle chalked up their first home victory this season.