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| McCulloch 2, De Vos 17, 51, De Zeeuw 67 |
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De Vos was joined in the goalscoring stakes by fellow centre back Arjan De Zeeuw and striker Lee McCulloch, who all bagged goals from corners.
The rout began after only 78 seconds with Wigans first corner of the game. Northern Ireland international Peter Kennedy swung over the kick and De Zeeuw headed on for McCulloch to flick home from close range.
That set the tone for the afternoon with a jittery Cardiff three man rear guard struggling to cope with the pace of McCulloch and Gary Teale.
But it was at set pieces that Cardiff were all at sea and after 17 minutes they once again collapsed to let the home side in for a second goal.
Again, a Kennedy corner was inch perfect and Cardiff found to their cost that if you leave 6ft 4in defenders unmarked 6 yards from goal, you pay the price as De Vos headed home.
And the duo of De Vos and De Zeeuw were also in command at the other end as the threat from Cardiff's lively strikers Peter Thorne and Jason Bowen never materialised.
The visitors created little in a one-sided first half and it was much the same pattern after the break.
The home side added a third goal six minutes into the second half when De Vos again rose and challenged to head home a Kennedy corner.
De Zeeuw deservedly got on the scoresheet with Wigans fourth after 67 minutes, yet again heading home a Kennedy corner but in the meantime Wigan keeper John Filan had produced two brilliant saves to deny Graham Kavanagh and Andy Legg, but it was Wigan's day.
The Cardiff fans showed their displeasure by calling for the head of manager Alan Cork and chanting: "You're not fit to wear the shirts".
And chairman Sam Hamman, who was actually named to sit on the Cardiff bench for the game, has some serious thinking to do