FORMER Town striker Jon Stead scored the bravest of goals, but it wasn't enough to save Sheffield United from a return to the Championship.
Yorkshire was left without a single top-flight side as the Blades dropped out of the Premiership on a day of drama.
Bramall Lane boss Neil Warnock, the man who took Town into what is now the Championship with their Wembley play-off win over Bristol Rovers in 1995, could only watch in misery as his side's 2-1 home defeat by Wigan and West Ham's 1-0 victory at Manchester United left them third-bottom.
Warnock's men went down with a goal difference one inferior to that of Wigan, who finished on the same 38 points mark having gone into yesterday's game knowing nothing but a win would do.
In a cruel twist, the man whose penalty saved Wigan was David Unsworth, the defender who started the season at Bramall Lane.
The man who crossed the Pennines in January held his nerve to net from the spot in first-half stoppage time.
Phil Jagielka had conceded the penalty with a needless handball.
Wigan had gone ahead through Austrian Paul Scharner, who drove home from Kevin Kilbane's 13th-minute cross.
Stead levelled in the 38th minute, putting himself on the line to meet Jagielka's accurate cross despite the sight of Wigan goalkeeper Mike Pollitt hurtling towards him.
Stead did not flinch, kept his eyes on the ball and headed into the corner a split second before he and Pollitt clashed heads.
Wigan's Ryan Taylor also got sandwiched and all three players required lengthy attention.
Taylor had to be carried off before Pollitt and Stead, whose goal was his fifth in 14 games for the Blades, climbed gingerly to their feet.
Unsworth's spot kick put Wigan back in the driving seat, and they managed to withstand fierce second-half pressure, with their task made harder by the dismissal of Lee McCulloch for a second yellow card in the 74th minute.
The closest the Blades came to a leveller was when Danny Webber hit a post.
It was a second last-day escape act by Liverpudlian Jewell, who was boss of Bradford when they beat Liverpool to stay up six years ago.
