DAVID Wheater reckons his pal Fabrice Muamba will have a hard time believing he had bagged a brace to win the Lancashire derby relegation showdown.

The big centre-back scored twice with his head inside seven first-half minutes to ensure three points for Wanderers on an emotional day at the Reebok.

The players were told after the game – the club’s first since Muamba’s collapse at White Hart Lane – that their team-mate would get a chance to watch their victory on a TV screen brought into the intensive care unit at the London Chest Hospital.

But Wheater joked that his friend might struggle to comprehend that he had been the match-winner, and demand a television that worked properly.

“Fabrice won’t believe I’ve scored twice, I don’t think anyone will,” he said.

“That was the one person we wanted to play for today. Win, lose or draw doesn’t really matter when one of your best friends is in that condition.

“But hopefully this will have cheered him up a bit.”

Wheater’s celebrations had to be reined in by team-mates, who celebrated the first strike with a group huddle. “It wasn’t the time to be running around, even in a local derby,” Wheater added.

“It didn’t seem right.”

The no-nonsense defender revealed that Owen Coyle had given the players a condition update on Muamba before the game, which confirmed that some more small signs of progress had been made.

And after such a difficult week in the Wanderers camp, Wheater was relieved to see it end on a happier note.

“I’ve known him for about 10 years through the England set-ups,” he said.

“I like to have a laugh and a joke normally, but when it happened I didn’t know what to do.

“I was walking around like a zombie. Everyone was.

“Win, lose or draw I like to try and keep the lads happy, but we couldn’t. It was weird.

“The few days we had off at the start of the week were hard, long days thinking about it.

“But once we got back in training, we knew we had to go and win for Fab.

“It’s been a horrible time but, hopefully, that has put a smile back on his face.”

It was encouraging, too, to see that Wheater was back to something like his old joking self, when he added in typical fashion: “My missus is in York today, she never misses a game.

“She’ll be banned now – she’s not coming again.”