BILLY Davies will today begin building his side up for this weekend's crunch derby against Burnley after being humiliated at Wigan.

Before kick-off, Preston winger Eddie Lewis spoke of how he felt the side were meeting promotion-chasing Wigan at the right time.

If that's true, then maybe the fans who crossed the border into Greater Manchester yesterday should be relieved the defeat wasn't much heavier.

Lee McCulloch gave Wigan the lead on 26 minutes, stabbing in from close range but Preston were unlucky to see Chris Lucketti's effort ruled out.

The skipper's headed effort was disallowed on the grounds he had been seen pushing.

Wigan streaked clear after the break as Alan Mahon finished well to make it 2-0 on 50 minutes.

Nathan Ellington scored a brace, following up a simple header with a deflected fourth, while Jason Roberts' late penalty completed the rout.

Davies said: "We went from putting in our best performance of the season last week against Derby to the worst here.

"Wigan thoroughly deserved their victory and we've got to accept it's been a bad day at the office.

"We did okay in the first half without really passing the ball well, we weren't as fluent as last week, but all in all we were very sloppy."