Wigan coach Shaun Wane insisted it was a deserved result after Matty Smith kicked a last-minute penalty to earn his side a 26-24 win over Super League leaders Leeds.
The Rhinos looked to have earned a share of the spoils when skipper Kevin Sinfield converted Rob Burrow's 77th-minute try to tie the scores for a third time.
But the visitors were penalised for obstruction with seconds running out and Smith kept his cool to land his fifth goal from as many attempts to help Wigan return to winning ways following their surprise defeat at Warrington.
"I thought we deserved to win," Wane said. "We bombed two dead-set tries in the second half with poor skill but overall I'm happy with the win.
"It's been a real tough week and it was nice to get a win against the best team in the competition.
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"Credit to them, when they go into offload mode, they're a fantastic team. They're the best team in the competition but we were much improved."
Wigan scored tries through veteran fullback Matty Bowen, skipper Sean O'Loughlin, Josh Charnley and Liam Farrell as they cut Leeds' lead to just two points with two rounds left of the regular season.
Leeds opened the scoring with Paul Aiton's 10th-minute try and Brad Singleton and Ash Handley also touched down in a thrilling see-saw encounter but they were denied what would have been a candidate for try of the season when Danny McGuire finished off a bewildering handling move only to see the score ruled out through obstruction.
"I thought that was a try," Leeds coach Brian McDermott said. "The build-up was absolutely sensational and had it been allowed, we'd have scored the best try ever.
