Wigan Athletic AGM

26th March 2007

I've just returned from the Latics AGM at the stadium and aside from the usual mix of Ralph Brimelow disputing everything that’s said, Brian Sabin agreeing with everything and Brenda Spencer sat in the middle of it all in some kind of bemused state uttering the words “look how far we’ve come” and “Dave and his family all love Latics” at regular intervals I did actually come away with a little bit of positive vibe.

It does, at long last, appear that the football club now have a few people in there with the balls and the backing to do things about the issue that’s are continually raised.

While nothing concrete was said pointers to a return to the Tree and Crown badge and stripes from next season along with the vastly reduced ticket prices for season ticket holders which are being announced in the new couple of weeks were the major things given away.

On the finance issue the misleading reports that Latics are now a profitable organisation were put well and truly to bed when Brenda reiterated that we still owe the bank 28 million quid and that Whelan continues to put his hand in his pocket at an alarming rate to keep the club going, especially where transfers are concerned.

The Police issue is not sorted yet, it should be in August - but she’d forgot the exact date.

A Latics Merchandise catalogue is coming out soon but alas no Club shop is on the cards.

Latics, and Paul Hunt in particular, are lobbying the Premier League and taking the lead when it comes to the rights and wrongs of the illegal games being shown every Saturday. We, along with other clubs, are trying to get it stopped.

The recent increased Traffic Problems at the stadium are due to the Police handing over Traffic responsibilities to the Council and the latter not manning the traffic lights on a match day as the former did.

When the annual question of 'What happens when Whelan dies' came up the usual answer of “All his family are Latics fans” came out.

The possibility of a new sponsor is currently being looked at, this was raised when it was pointed out that JJB Sports currently pay us 300grand only to be the main club sponsor. This, in Premier League circles, is pitiful. Spencer did respond initially by saying “Dave’s put loads of money in and never took any out and has no intention to at this moment in time, so it’s up to him how much JJB pay us as its his company” When someone pointed out that he’s just a shareholder in the company now she agreed and said potential new sponsors had been sounded out. Make of that what you will.

Underneath the East Stand is now almost empty as the fatties are in the process of moving to Orrell, converting part of that space into a Supporters Club/ Bar has been costed and looks an option.

It was also said that M P Lindsay would be asked by B Spencer when he would be taking part in the Questions and Answers session with the fans which he promised us when he joined the board a year ago.

Apologies were received from the above mentioned leach along with the Whelan and Phil Williams, who no doubt was still congratulating himself on his speech at the Supporters Club do last Friday. Either that or still finishing it off somewhere. Doris was at a hospital appointment apparently. “Nothing minor I hope” as the bloke sat at the back of me said.

On the whole, while we are still someway off as I said at the start of the post I did actually come away from an AGM for the first time and think “Yes, maybe, just maybe things are starting to happen”.

None of the above may ever happen as I’ve been to AGM’s over a number of years and by and large it’s the same well rehearsed statements - usually along the lines of “It’s Dave’s club and he can do what he likes with it”

But for some reason, this time it did feel a bit different.

Here’s hoping.

Mark

Wigan Athletic 0 v 0 Fulham

17th March 2007

Wigan Athletic really should have gained all three points on offer at the JJB Stadium on Saturday against a very ordinary looking Fulham side, who had obviously arrived with a draw in mind.

This was a very one-sided encounter with the hosts creating all the goal scoring chances, but alas, even those were few and far between.

Wigan Athletic manager, Paul Jewell, was able to recall Arjan De Zeeuw to his central defence, whilst David Unsworth deputised for the suspended Leighton Baines. Also serving a one match ban was Scotland international midfielder Lee McCulloch and it was his Republic of Ireland team mate Kevin Kilbane who stepped into his boots. Cottagers gaffer Chris Coleman stuck with the side that had drawn their last Premiership game against Aston Villa.

The first chance of the game fell to Caleb Folan in the very first minute of the game but the Republic of Ireland striker failed to connect with a good through-ball from Luis Antonio Valencia. The game slowly degenerated into a midfield tussle as the Cottagers' game plan began to become all too painfully apparent, with even Papa Bouba Diop mainly employed in a defensive role as Latics pushed for the opening goal. Denny Landzaat let fly with a speculative effort on the quarter of an hour mark, but his long range effort went high, wide and not too handsome.

Disaster struck Folan in the 26th minute when he went into a fairly mild tackle with Cottagers' defender Carlos Bucenegra in the 26th minute which resulted in the striker being stretchered off the field of play five minutes later. His loss was Henri Camara's gain, but even he was a bit ring rusty after a lengthy lay off and failed to trouble the Fulham back line for what turned out to be the remainder of the game.

It is fair to say that the introduction of a male streaker provided the highlight of the game, but even then the rainy and bitterly cold conditions meant that even he was unable to rise to the occasion!

All in all, this was one of those game you file under 'forget' but at least by the end of the day the Blues were nine points clear of a place in the relegation zone. However, Charlton Athletic won the following day to narrow the gap down to six points.

I bet you can't guess where Latics travel to in a fortnight's time?

WIGAN ATHLETIC, John Filan, Ryan Taylor, Matt Jackson, Arjan De Zeeuw, David Unsworth, Luis Antonio Valencia, Josip Skoko, Denny Landzaat, 9Paul Scharner 78), Kevin Kilbane, Caleb Folan, (Henri Camara 31), Emile Heskey. Subs not used, Carlo Nash, Julius Aghahowa, David Cotterill.

Booked, Antonio Luis Valencia 61 mins

FULHAM, Antti Niemi, Liam Rosenior, Ian Pearce, Carlos Bocanegra, Franck Quedrue, Simon Daviesm Alexei Smertin, Michael Brown, Papa Bouba Diop, Tomasz Radzinski, (Collins John 82), Brian McBride, (Heidar Helgusson 67). Subs not used, Jans Lastuvka, Wayne Routledge, Clint Dempsey.

Referee, S Tanner (Somerset)

Attendance, 16,001

Manchester City 0 v 1 Wigan Athletic

13th March 2007

Wigan Athletic manager Paul Jewell named an unchanged Latics line up for this vital 'six pointer' against relegation rivals Manchester City. He stuck with the same team that beat Newcastle United 1-0 at the JJB Stadium last weekend and that meant that Caleb Folan was preferred up front to Julius Aghahowa again.

City, who had prepared for this clash with a trip to Dubai during the week must have wished they'd stayed there as Folan, the player who scored for Chesterfield against City earlier in the season to knock them out of the Carling Cup, struck again on 18 minutes to give Latics a crucial lead. It was no less than Wigan's Premier team deserved as they had squandered three chances before Emile Heskey knocked the ball to Folan who headed past a stranded Nicky Weaver to score his second Premiership goal in just five outings.

Minutes within that goal hitting the net news filtered through to Latics fans that one of their old boys, Damien Francis, had scored Watford's second goal against Charlton Athletic, who at the start of play were six points behind Latics. The visiting faithful were ecstatic and whilst the City support seemed to wither away as Latics put on a superb display with Folan and Heskey looking like they were going to score every time they were in the City area.

City's response to this was bookings to debutant Michael Ball in the 23rd minute and then Hatem Trabelsi was booked for a foul on Luis Antonio Valencia who was in excellent form on the right wing. On the half hour mark Ryan Taylor and Valencia worked really well but the final ball to Folan fell just a little short. Trabelsi limped off the field of play in the 33rd minute and was replaced by Sun Jihai, and slowly City began to start playing some better football. Joey Barton sent in a lovely cross across the Latics penalty area in the 35th minute but no City player connected with the ball and two minutes later Barton crossed a beautiful ball into the box from a corner which Micah Richards headed goal wards, but Emmerson Boyce was on hand to head the ball off the line.

As the first half ground to a close Latics were happy to let the Citizens have the majority of possession as they just were not creative enough in the final third of the pitch.

The second half started with Stuart Pearce replacing the ineffective Georgios Samaras with debutant Emile Lokonda Mpenza and it was City who started the livelier and in the 49th minute Matt Jackson latched on to a deflected DaMarcus Beasley cross to deny him a debut goal.

In the 53rd minute Latics suffered a blow when Heskey limped out of the action for the second game running to be replaced by Kevin Kilbane. This meant that Lee McCulloch was pushed up front and almost immediately he forced a save from Weaver from a sweetly struck shot from distance.

On the hour mark Barton whipped over another corner and Richards, once again failed to connect with the Latics defence static. Three minutes later Barton tried to capitalise on a Latics error on the edge of their penalty area and fortunately for Latics he sliced his effort woefully wide. Mpenza was looking lively, certainly impressing his manager on his debut as the City fans started to regain their voices as Latics were now playing far too deeply.

Emmerson Boyce, who was having a good game in the heart of the defence was injured in the 69th minute when he clashed with Richard Dunne as both players attempted to come off best with a cross floated toward the near post. He fell awkwardly and although he carried on regardless, it was obvious from the Latics bench that he was really struggling and in the 77th minute he was replaced by David Unsworth. Two minutes earlier Jewell had replaced the tiring Valencia with Nigerian striker Julius Aghahowa in an effort to put some much needed pace into an increasingly lacklustre attack.

The final ten minutes of the second half were almost a mirror image of the closing ten of the first period. City were having a lot of possession but could do nothing in front of goal. With five minutes remaining the City of Manchester Stadium home sections were emptying at an alarming rate and thousands of City's fans didn't see Michael Ball substituted in the 86th minute for Daniel Sturridge or Denny Landzaat have his shot superbly saved by Weaver two minutes before full time.

They also missed Barton crash a free kick, conceded by Leighton Baines, with just a few minutes of time added on remaining, against an eleven man Latics defence, three bookings as tempers flared on both sides and they also missed the final whistle blow on City's fourth consecutive Premiership beating by little Wigan Athletic!

The aftermath of the game saw City replacing Latics one place from the relegation trapdoor, whilst Latics found themselves leap-frogging both City and Sheffield United.

MANCHESTER CITY, Nicky Weaver, Hatem Trabelsi, (Sun Jihai 33), Sylvain Distin, Richard Dunne, Michael Ball, (Daniel Sturridge 86), Micha Richards, Joey Barton, Stephen Ireland, DaMarcus Beasley, Georgios Samaras, (Emile Lokonda Mpenza 46), Bernardo Corradi. Subs not used, Andreas Isaksson, Dietmar Hamann.

Booked, Michael Ball 23 mins, Hatem Trabelsi 29 mins, Richard Dunne 90 mins

WIGAN ATHLETIC, John Filan, Ryan Taylor, Emmerson Boyce, (David Unsworth 77), Matt Jackson, Leighton Baines, Luis Antonio Valencia, (Julius ASghahowa 75), Josip Skoko, Denny Landzaat, Lee McCulloch, Caleb Folan, Emile Heskey, (Kevin Kilbane 53). Subs not used, Carlo Nash, David Cotterill.

Goal scorer, Caleb Folan 18 mins

Booked, Leighton Baines 90 mins, Ryan Taylor 90 mins

Referee, Howard Webb (South Yorkshire)

Attendance, 41,923

Wigan Athletic 1 v 0 Newcastle United

25th February 2007

Wigan Athletic found themselves six points clear of the relegation following a deserved 1-0 victory over Newcastle United at the JJB Stadium today (Sunday 25th January). In doing so they also pulled Sheffield United, Manchester City, Fulham and Aston Villa into the equation with regards to the dreaded drop into the Championship as the Blues were now just a point behind City and the Blades, whilst the Villans and the Cottagers were just three points ahead. With Latics' next game against Manchester City at Eastlands next week, this result will certainly set them in good stead for what will be another titanic 'six pointer' at the City of Manchester Stadium.

Paul Jewell kept faith with the team that drew at Watford in midweek, with the only change being an enforced one. Ryan Taylor dropped back into the right back berth that was left open following Fitz Hall's sending off against the Hornets. This meant that Luis Antonio Valencia started on the right wing, and once again, there was no place in the starting line up, or the bench, for new Nigerian striker Julius Aghahowa, with Henri Camara warming the said bench.

The game itself was a tense affair for both sets of fans and when Ryan Taylor was adjudged to have fouled Antoine Sibierski in the penalty area on the half hour mark things looked grim for the boys in blue. However, John Filan, playing only his second Premiership game of the season, following a loan spell at Doncaster Rovers and stints in the stiffs, produced a breathtaking save from Nolberto Soalano's well struck spot kick.

The match referee, Alan Wiley, who had booked Taylor and Filan for their protests about the penalty award, ensured that Latics were handed a £25,000 fine on the final whistle by booking four more Latics stars before the game was over.

However, a beautifully taken free kick by Taylor in the 40th minute meant that this was a small price to pay for three points that could ultimately see the Blues playing top flight football again next season. The goal was Taylor's first Premiership effort since he signed for the club from Tranmere Rovers in June 2005. He broke his metatarsal in January 2006 in a FA Cup game against Leeds United and in April 2006 he broke his leg in a reserve team game following his rehabilitation - against, yes you've guessed it - Newcastle United. The smile on his face was a joy to behold as the England Under 21 star had only made a handful of appearances for the club since that broken leg suffered at the Robin Park Arena.

On a darker note, whether or not six Latics players deserved bookings today is open to debate, but when you consider that Latics players were involved in only three dubious tackles all afternoon, my own opinion is that there is a trend of officials causing the Blues as much harm as they can from now until the end of the season.

I hope I'm eventually proved wrong.

WIGAN ATHLETIC, John Filan, Ryan Taylor, Emmerson Boyce, Matt Jackson, Leighton Baines, Luis Antonio Valencia, (Henri Camara 61), Josip Skoko, Denny Landzaat, Lee McCulloch, Caleb Folan, Emile Heskey, (Kevin Kilbane 37). Subs not used, Carlo Nash, David Unsworth, David Cotterill.

Goal scorer, Ryan Taylor 40 mins

Booked, John Filan 30 mins, Ryan Taylor 30 mins, Leighton Baines 65 mins, Lee McCulloch 71 mins, Josip Skoko 79 mins, Henri Camara 87 mins

NEWCASTLE UNITED, Shay Given, Oguchi Onyewu, Steven Taylor, Paul Huntington, (Andrew Carroll 87), Titus Bramble, Nicky Butt, Scott Parker, Damien Duff, (Charles N'Zogbia 62), Antoine Sibierski, Nolberto Salano, (James Milner 62), Obafemi Martins. Subs not used, Steve Harper, David Edgar

Booked, Nicky Butt 90 mins, Scott Parker 90 mins

Referee, Alan Wiley (Staffordshire)

Attendance, 21,179

Watford 1 v 1 Wigan Atletic

21st February 2007

Wigan Athletic manager Paul Jewell dropped Julius Aghahowa in favour of his other newbie striker Caleb Folan for this visit to Vicarage Road. In goal for the Blues was John Filan, playing his first Premiership game of the season, with new goalkeeping cover signing Carlo Nash on the bench. Apart from that, Latics were basically the same team that finished that infamous game at the Emirates Stadium ten days ago.

It was Watford who started the brightest with Leighton Baines in particular coming under pressure from a rampant Hornets front line. Former Latic Damien Francis should have done a bit better than hit the ball straight at Filan in the fourth minute and a goal then would have put Latics under the cosh with the home fans almost baying for blood! Fortunately the hosts gradually faded and it was Latics who started playing the better football and had created the best goal scoring opportunities although Emile Heskey squandered both the chances that came his way.

Disaster struck the Blues in a four minute spell with twenty minutes of the game gone. Firstly Fitz Hall was given a straight red card by referee Rob Styles, Latics' first of the season, for a decent tackle on Johan Cavalli, just how Jewell kept his cool after his Arsenal antics will forever remain a mystery. And then four minutes later Darius Henderson connected with Jordan Stewart's cross into the box, slotting the ball past a defenceless Filan.

The shock of this horrible turn of events seemed to galvanise Latics as Heskey should have done better with a 27th minute effort and then Ben Foster pulled off a fantastic double save to deny Folan and Josip Skoko. The pressure from ten man Latics was relentless and on the 39th minute mark Folan was desperately unlucky to miss from close range. However, he made up for this miss just a minute later when he scored his first goal for the club blasting a fierce shot from 12 yards out into the Hornets net that gave Foster no chance.

By the time the half time whistle blew it was Watford who were the most grateful of the two sides to hear it, and in truth the Blues should have had more than their solitary goal to show for the first 45 minutes graft.

Hornets manager Aidy Boothroyd brought on Hameur Bouazza for Cavalli at the start of the second half, hoping for a more potent threat to challenge the Latics' depleted defence, whilst Paul Jewell opted to leave things as they were. It was the hosts who should have gone in front with just a minute of the second period underway and it came as something of a relief that Henderson failed to tuck away a good cross from Adrian Mariappa.

The Hornets were laying siege to the Latics goal for the opening ten minutes and Malky McKay also missed a goal scoring opportunity early doors. All Latics had to show was a weak cross by Folan collected by Foster with 52 minutes on the clock.

In the 55th minute Folan was replaced by Kevin Kilbane as Jewell decided to beef up his midfield to try to put an end to a Hornets purple spell. It seemed to do the trick and just before the hour mark Denny Landzaat was unlucky not to score from a header from 12 yard during a rare Latics foray into the Watford area and within minutes the Hornets had Jay Demerit to thank for blocking a dangerous Leighton Baines cross into the danger area. Boothroyd introduced Will Hoskins into the game in the 61st minute in place of Steve Kabba and two minutes later Landzaat was again unlucky not to give the visitors the lead with a 20 yard effort and it was now the blue shirted team piling on the pressure.

Kilbane tried to 'do a Landzaat' in the 71st minute but his thirty yard effort was dealt with comfortable by Foster. The goalkeeper was fortunate just two minutes later when he blocked another Landzaat goal attempt with defender Gavin Mahon blocking Lee McCulloch's follow up.

Bouazza, who was failing to live up to his billing as super sub was booked with just fifteen minutes remaining and Henderson let fly with a 20 yard shot that sailed over Filan's bar on the 80 minute mark. Just two minutes later Bouazza tried a speculative effort from 30 yards, forcing a good save out of the Wigan keeper as Latics were feeling the effects of being down to ten men for all but twenty minutes of the game.

McCulloch was booked after 83 minutes as frustrations and tension began to mount and it was Watford who had the last real efforts on goal. With three minutes remaining, Filan easily collected a 12 yard effort from Tommy Smith whilst Henderson blazed over the bar with the goal at his mercy in the 90th minute.

The point picked up by both teams was certainly more beneficial to Latics as they went six points clear of West Ham United who occupy the last relegation spot. Watford remain rooted to the bottom with just 19 points.

WATFORD, Ben Foster, Jordan Stewart, Jay Demerit, Malky McKay, Adrian Mariappa, Damien Francis, Johan Cavalli, (Hameur Bouazza 46), Gavin Mahon, Darius Henderson, Tommy Smith, Steve Kabba, (Will Hoskins 61). Subs not used, Alhassan Bangura, Lloyd Doyley, Tamas Priskin, Will Hoskins.

Goal scorer, Darius Henderson 24 mins

Booked, Hameur Bouazza 76 mins

WIGAN ATHLETIC, John Filan, Emmerson Boyce, Fitz Hall, Matt Jackson, Leighton Baines, Ryan Taylor, Josip Skoko, Denny Landzaat, Lee McCulloch, Caleb Folan, (Kevin Kilbane 55), Emile Heskey. Subs not used, Carlo Nash, David Unsworth, Luis Antonio Valencia, Henri Camara.

Goal scorer, Caleb Folan 40 mins

Booked, Lee McCulloch 83 mins

Sent off, Fitz Hall 20 mins

Referee, Rob Styles (Hampshire)

Attendance, 18,338

Arsenal 2 v 1 Wigan Athletic

11th February 2007

Wigan Athletic manager Paul Jewell will more than likely be fined by the FA over his comments about the most inept referee ever to grace the game, certainly when it comes to officiating Latics games.

Phil Dowd allowed a pulsating game, that Latics should have won, to dissolve into mayhem by booking six players with just eight minutes of the game remaining, ignoring a blatant penalty when Emile Heskey was brought down in the box by Matthieu Flamini. He then allowed Arsenal a one man advantage and an offside goal in order to equalise, and capped off a truly memorable display by his standards, by allowing a second Arsenal goal that was also offside. And according to some media sources, Dowd was heard to swear at certain Latics players, yet he will receive nothing but support by an organisation that is itself nothing short of a laughing stock and makes vast sums of money by fining the victims of their referee's mistakes, just ask Graeme Souness's missus!

I'm sorry, but the old adage of 'the referee is always right' has got to be scrapped and it is now time to use video technology. As Paul Jewell said during his post match interview that defeat and those appalling refereeing decisions could cost Wigan Athletic AFC about £50.000.000 should Latics be relegated by finishing a point below the fourth from bottom placed team in a few months time. For a start, there is too much riding on refereeing decisions in these days of Premiership football, decisions which could make the difference between your team aspiring to the highs of Chelsea, or the lows of Leeds United.

The argument about where to re start play should video referees be used is a problem for the powers that be to sort out. The simple solution (from just a normal fan who has been a supporter of the game for thirty five years) would be to just kick off the game again after any contentious decision. After all, there are not usually that many during a game, unless of course the referee is Phil Dowd! Surely the FA can now waste millions of pounds to employ someone to come up with the same solution and bring in the new technology required? The cost can be recouped by managers of Premiership football teams being fined willy nilly whilst current refereeing methods continue for a season or so!

The game was witnessed by a sell out crowd of 60.094 and if any of those fans present can deny that Latics were cheated then they aren't true fans of the game. As for the game itself, it goes down as one of the most memorable games that Latics have ever taken part in. Phil Dowd notwithstanding, the Latics team competed on a very level playing field and it would have been hard for any neutral to guess which team was competing for a Champions League place and the one in a relegation scrap.

The first goal, a thirty yard screamer from Holland midfielder Denny Landzaat in the 35th minute was worthy of winning the game and that should truly have been the case but for an unbelievable last ten minutes orchestrated by the Staffordshire official and an inept linesman.

80 mins - Flamini, the last line of defence, blatantly brings down Heskey in the penalty area. The referee's assistant keeps his flag down despite being right in line with the incident. Dowd decides not to award the decision in Latics' favour when to have done so would have seen the Gunners down to ten man and Latics undoubtedly winning the game whether the resultant penalty would have been converted or not.

80.30 mins - Josip Skoko is on the touchline waiting to be reintroduced to the game. Jewell AND THE FOURTH OFFICIAL are at a loss as to why Dowd has not let him onto the pitch.

81 mins - Flamini, who should not even be on the pitch, sends a through ball into the Latics area from an offside position which Fitz Hall connects with after Henry knocks the ball onto his foot, to give the Gunners their equaliser.

82 mins - Thierry Henry, a world class player, resorts to Sunday League football tactics by trying to get Chris Kirkland booked for time wasting, for which the Frenchman is booked.

83 mins - Dowd decides to even things up with regard to yellow cards by booking Lee McCulloch.

84 mins - Tomas Rosicky, also in an offside position, powers a header past a stunned Latics defence to win the game for Arsenal.

85 mins - Dowd tries to appease Jewell and the travelling Latics fans by booking Rosicky for his goal celebrations, it's a joke!

86 mins - Tempers are fraying and Dowd is swearing and has now lost all control of the game. Jens Lehmann deliberately wastes well over a minute of the game by retrieving the ball, chatting to a ball boy and bouncing the ball on an advertisement board!

88 mins - He's booked and will miss the Carling Cup Final, Arsenal are already in the act of trying to get the card rescinded.

89 mins - Cheated and hurt Jewell brings on Kevin Kilbane in an effort to claw something from the game. Luis Antonio Valencia also replaces a distraught Ryan Taylor. Cesc Fabregas and Gel Clichy are booked. Jewell replaces Hall with Kristofer Haestad but the game is already lost despite Chris Kirkland playing up front for the last minute of the game.

FULL TIME - Arsene Wenger did not see any of the controversial decisions that ensured a very luck victory for his team!

ARSENAL, Jens Lehmann, Gael Clichy, Johan Djourou, (Emmanuel Adebayor 51), Justin Hoyte, (Jeremie Aliadiere 67), Kolo Toure, Cesc Fabregas, Julio Cesar Baptista, Tomas Rosicky, Gilberto Silva, Theo Walcott, (Matthieu Flamini 67), Thierry Henry. Subs not used, Manuel Rivero Almunia, Pereira Neves Denilson.

Goal scorers, Fitz Hall (og) 81 mins, Tomas Rosicky 85 mins

Booked, Kolo Toure 30 mins, Thierry Henry 82 mins, Jens Lehmann 86 mins, Gael Clichy 90 mins, Cesc Fabregas 90 mins

WIGAN ATHLETIC, Chris Kirkland, Fitz Hall, (Kristofer Haestad 90), Emmerson Boyce, Matt Jackson, Leighton Baines, Ryan Taylor, (Luis Antonio Valencia 87), Josip Skoko, Denny Landzaat, Lee McCulloch, Julius Aghahowa, (Kevin Kilbane 87), Emile Heskey. Subs not used, John Filan, David Unsworth.

Goal scorer, Denny Landzaat 35 mins

Booked, Leighton Baines 58 mins, Lee McCulloch 82 mins, Fitz Hall 90 mins

Referee, Phil Dowd (Staffordshire)

Attendance, 60,094

Wigan Athletic 1 v 0 Portsmouth

3rd February 2007

Wigan Athletic looked a totally different team at the JJB Stadium against Portsmouth. They played with passion, commitment and enthusiasm as they silenced the Pompey chimes in epic fashion. A major contribution to this were the home debuts given out to strike pair Julius Aghahowa and Caleb Folan and the inspirational, true grit of Latics legend Lee McCulloch.

Another factor of this great victory were the fans who had turned out on a bitterly cold, foggy day to witness a team struggling at the foot of the table was nothing short of magnificent. They encouraged the team from the first whistle until the last and the atmosphere created by fans, determined to see their team through a difficult season, was brilliant. The players responded magnificently and the after match celebrations were a joy to behold. The players, and the 14.000 hard core Wigan fans celebrated together. It felt special.

Perusal of the team sheet before kick off held a surprise as Leighton Baines wasn't on it due to a training ground injury and his place on the left side of defence was taken by David Unsworth. As expected Nigerian international striker Aghahowa was given his debut, whilst Folan made his home debut as well. McCulloch had recovered from an injury picked up at Reading in mid week and if he was disappointed with missing out on a move to his dream club, Rangers, it certainly didn't show.

Before kick off there was a minutes silence impeccably observed by both sets of fans for Latics President Stan 'Mr Wigan Athletic' Jackson, who sadly passed away earlier in the week and hopefully he was looking down on one of the major loves of his life as they then commenced to tear Portsmouth to shreds.

Harry Redknapp had made three changes to the team that had drawn against Middlesbrough in midweek, dropping Djimi Traore, Matt Taylor and Gary O'Neill, replacing them with Noe Paramot, Richard Hughes and Rodolf Douala.

Portsmouth just didn't perform on the day and only two of their players, Sol Campbell and Linvoy Primus looking 'up for it'. As early as the fourth minute both Folan and McCulloch had had efforts on target. Two minutes later Emmerson Boyce did well to stop Benjani Mwaruwari from bearing down on goal, but after that it was all Latics. Aghahowa and Luis Antonio Valencia were causing all sorts of problems for Pompey and there was a major scare for goalkeeper David James who handled outside his box in the 24th minute, but referee Graham Poll, to James' relief, whistled for a Folan offside run instead which was the first offence.

By the half hour mark the pace of the game had slowed down a touch, but it was still Latics doing all the pressing for an elusive home goal. And in the 31st minute Folan saw himself through on goal with only James to beat, or so he thought. Just as he was about to pop the ball into the net Campbell made one of his trademark tackles to nick the ball from Folan's foot. The last fifteen minutes saw Latics roared on by the crowd as they assaulted the Pompey goal area, but all of the effort only resulted in a booking for the impressive Ryan Taylor just before Poll blew the half time whistle.

Half time brought news that both West Ham United and Charlton Athletic were losing and whether or not this gave Latics the jitters as the second half got underway is unknown. The second period was a more even affair, but you still sensed that Wigan had just enough to come out on top. There was a scare in the 48th minute when Taylor stopped the marauding Glen Johnson with a thunderous tackle. There was a collective sharp intake of breath from both the players and the crowd, to the relief of all Poll adjudged the tackle to be hard but fair saving Taylor the second yellow card.

England goalkeeper Chris Kirkland saved Taylor's bacon with five minutes of the second period played when he saved from Rodlof Douala who had ghosted pat Latics' right back as if he wasn't there. Redknapp made his first substitution two minutes later, replacing the ineffective Lauren with Lomana Lua Lua, but he too had little impact on a Latics defence that was as solid as a rock for the most part with Unsworth snuffing out every threat down the left flanks with ease.

With Taylor looking as though he was fearing the red card, Jewell decided to bring on Fitz Hall for Valencia on the hour mark, thus relieving Taylor from the risk of walking for a mistimed tackle and sticking him in midfield whilst Hall took on his defensive duties. Eight minutes later it was Hall who was instrumental in Latics taking the lead. The ball was played into the Pompey area and Hall laid off the ball for the incoming McCulloch who steamed onto the ball and lashed a superb shot past a helpless James. Three sides of the JJB ground erupted as the big Scot became the joint third highest JJB Stadium goal scorer, with 44 league goals to his name, behind Andy Liddell and Nathan Ellington. McCulloch clearly loves scoring past James as he has done it twice against him this season and also scored the winner at the City of Manchester Stadium last season!

Redknapp, who was getting more and more frustrated in his technical area brought on Andy Cole for Kanu in the 70th minute and then Matt Taylor for Noe Paramot three minutes later as he tried to claw something from the game. But it was still Latics who were creating the better chances with Aghahowa's pace a constant thorn in the Pompey sides. He was given a standing ovation when he was substituted by Andreas Johnasson after running himself into the ground with six minutes remaining, by which time Portsmouth were a well beaten team.

With West Ham United losing at Aston Villa, the result left Latics five points clear of them, with a game in hand. Add this to the fact that Charlton Athletic, Watford and Sheffield United were also beaten and you realise this was a very good day for all concerned at Wigan Athletic AFC.Stan, this one was for you!

WIGAN ATHLETIC, Chris Kirkland, Ryan Taylor, Emmerson Boyce, Matt Jackson, David Unsworth, Luis Antonio Valencia, (Fitz Hall 61), Josip Skoko, Denny Landzaat, Lee McCulloch, Caleb Folan, Julius Aghahowa, (Andreas Johansson 85). Subs not used, John Filan, Kristofer Haestad, Kevin Kilbane.

Goal scorer, Ryan Taylor 44 mins

Booked, Lee McColloch 68 mins

PORTSMOUTH, David James, Glen Johnson, Linvoy Primus, Noe Pamarot, (Matt Taylor 74), Lauren, (Lomana Lua Lua 52), Pedro Mendes, Richard Hughes, Rodolf Douala, Nwankwo Kanu, (Andy Cole 71), Benjani Mwaruwari Subs not used, Jamie Ashdown, Sean Davis.

Referee, Graham Poll (Hertfordshire)

Attendance, 15,093

Reading 3 v 2 Wigan Athletic

30th January 2007

Wigan Athletic manager Paul Jewell has overseen the breaking of more than a few records during his tenure at the JJB Stadium. However, if the result was to go against his team at the Madejski Stadium he would be the manager holding the most unpleasant record of being the boss with the most consecutive defeats since Latics' election into the Football League in 1978. Latics started this game on the back of seven consecutive league defeats against a Reading team riding high in the Premiership with a very good home record which has seen them virtually safe from relegation following their promotion into the top flight in May last year.

Jewell opted to give a full debut to new signing Caleb Folan in place of Kevin Kilbane, whilst Emmerson Boyce was converted to centre half for the game to accommodate the welcome return of Ryan Taylor at right back. Steve Coppell, who had signed a former Latics transfer target, Colchester United centre back Greg Halford, before kick off fielded the team that has served him well all season, although Dave Kitson was on the bench following his recent recovery from injury.

With Latics needing a victory to stave off the very frightening prospect of relegation Latics could not have got off to a better start when former England hit man Emile Heskey hit a superb volley from the left hand side of the Royals penalty area which gave Marcus Hahnemann no chance. The goal for Heskey, the 99th of his league career, was long overdue and it gave Latics' black shirted three man attack force the early impetus, with Folan in particular looking up for the challenge of claiming a place in the starting line up on a regular basis. As early as the thirteenth minute he almost claimed a debut goal, but his spinning volley clipped the Reading bar.

Reading gradually clawed their way back into the game and Steve Sidewell was unfortunate to see his teasing cross fly over the Wigan bar on the quarter hour mark. Eight minutes later the Royals wasted a gilt edged chance to equalise, but Leroy Lita headed over the bar when it would have been easier top score. Latics fought back and Folan was just a fraction of connecting with a through ball from Heskey to put Latics two goals up before Sidwell failed to capitalise on an error from Chris Kirkland when he scooped the ball that the keeper had fumbled wide of the Latics goal with 28 minutes of the game gone.

Reading were not to be denied though and just two minutes later they equalised courtesy of an Ivor Ingimarsson header following a jinking run past the Latics defence and a beautiful cross by Lita which Ingimarsson connected with perfectly. The goal spurred Reading on and for the remainder of the half Latics found themselves under almost constant pressure, with Kirkland called on to save a rasping shot from Glen Little that would have put Reading ahead in the 35th minute, and it was with great relief that they went in at half time with the score still 1-1. Especially given Latics' recent spate of conceding goals in time added on at the end of half or full time.

Within minutes of the restart, during which neither manager made any tactical changes, Leighton Baines crossed the ball into the Reading box and Folan, once again, failed to connect to score a dream debut goal. Within a minute Little again let rip with a thunderous shot from long range effort which Kirkland saved competently, although he had a let off with Readings' next attack when Sidwell struck a shot into the ground and wide of the post.

It was third time lucky for the Royals though, who sent their fans wild when Shane Long, returning from injury, rattled the ball past Kirkland after Stephen Hunt's chip into the danger area, and suddenly Latics were looking very vulnerable indeed. After a five minute spell of Reading pressure it was Latics who had the next opportunity to score, but a Heskey effort was gathered at the second attempt by Hahnemann. That proved to be his last match action as he was replaced on the hour mark by Kevin Kilbane as Jewell decided to opt for a McCulloch and Folan front two with the former Everton man slipping into the berth left open by McCulloch.

The introduction of Kilbane saw Latics up the pace a little and McCulloch, called up into the Scotland squad earlier in the day, was unlucky not to latch on to a through ball from the lively Baines. But the response from Reading was almost instant with Little firing a shot across the Wigan goal, fortunately, there was no Reading player available to latch on to it.

McCulloch was substituted by Jewell in the 66th minute, and an attack that started with a three man strike force was reduced to just one, and he was a raw recruit, making his debut after being signed from Chesterfield! Then just two minutes Jewell brought on Matt Jackson for David Unsworth.

It really was backs to the wall now for the men in black and but for some sloppy play from an over confident Reading side the deficit could have been more than one goal. To their credit, Latics refused to give up on the game and with ten minutes remaining news filtered through that West Ham United had been beaten by Liverpool at Upton Park which meant that at least Wigan would still be clear of the relegation zone no matter how this game finished.

Coppell replaced the tiring Shane Long with his talisman striker Dave Kitson in the 81st minute and from that moment on you sensed that Latics would not get anything from the game. Within a minute he was bearing down on the Wigan goal and but for a scuffed shot the deficit would have been two goals, putting an end to the game. However, when you are down there is no respite and when Lita scored from an offside position with two minutes remaining Latics' misery was complete despite Denny Landzaat scoring a second goal for Latics with just seconds of the game remaining.

By the time the final whistle blew Latics realised that Sheffield United had gone five points clear of them and it looked like it was now any one of four teams (Wigan Athletic, West Ham United, Charlton and Watford) destined to fight the drop from now on. And with the awful club record of eight consecutive Premiership beatings hanging over them, times are hard at the JJB Stadium.

READING, Marcus Hahnemann, Ivar Ingimarsson, Andre Stephane-Bikey, Graeme Murty, Nicky Shorey, James Harper, Glen Little, Stephen Hunt, Steve Sidwell, Shane Long, (Dave Kitson 81), Leroy Lita. Subs not used, Alex Pearce, Adam Federici, John Oster, Ulises De La Cruz.

Goal scorers, Ivor Ingimarsson 31 mins, Shane Long 51 mins, Leroy Lita 88 mins

Booked, Shane Long 58 mins

WIGAN ATHLETIC, Chris Kirkland, Ryan Taylor, Emmerson Boyce, David Unsworth, (Matt Jackson 68), Leighton Baines, Luis Antonio Valencia, Josip Skoko, Denny Landzaat, Lee McCulloch, (Andreas Johansson 66), Caleb Folan, Emile Heskey, (Kevin Kilbane 59). Subs not used, John Filan, Andreas Granqvist.

Goal scorers, Emile Heskey 3 mins, Denny Landzaat 90 mins

Booked, Caleb Folan 71 mins

Referee, Steve Bennett (Kent)

Attendance, 18,149

Wigan Athletic 0 v 2 Everton

22nd January 2007

A very ordinary looking Everton team came away from the JJB Stadium with their first ever league win over a sorry Wigan Athletic side that looks destined for the drop.

Over fourteen thousand Wiganer's in attendance could not believe the third rate football put on show, which consisted purely of long balls punted forward to the front men who were easily marshalled by the Toffee's back four. The team looked incompetent from start to finish and it was only in the third minute of stoppage time that Everton goalkeeper, Tim Howard had to make a save.

Emile Heskey was just about the only player to emerge from this shambles with any credit, although he hardly set the game alight, however, in his defence there wasn't a ball played to his feet throughout the 96 minutes that the game was played. Lee McCulloch looked to have his mind more focussed on how Rangers were getting on and looking forward to teaming up with his mate Barry Ferguson in the next few days and Fitz Hall was, well, Fitz Hall.

The Latics team line up was somewhat surprising as both the new Scandinavian signings (touted as the club's saviours) were not featured, although Andreas Granqvist did make it onto the bench. David Unsworth though became the mainstay of the back four despite being signed 'just in case'! There was a welcome return to first team duty from Luis Antonio Valencia who did reasonably well despite having to be replaced with David Cotterill late in the second half due to tiredness creeping into his game.

The score line suggests that a decent Everton side overcame stubborn little Wigan, but this is far from the truth. Everton's first goal came courtesy of a well struck Mikel Arteta penalty in the 65th minute, and that was Everton's first shot on target. The Toffee's had lost Andy Johnson just five minutes earlier due to injury and this should have been seized on by Latics as some sort of incentive to inflict some damage on Everton, but it wasn't to be because the team, as stated by Denny Landzaat this season, is unable to play the ball on the ground. The second Arteta goal came in the ...

(go on, have a guess, which minute it came in!).

One pleasing aspect of the game was the introduction of Ryan Taylor who combined well with David Cotterill on the right hand side of the park, and if the team can just muster a win from somewhere, perhaps the fans would see them playing with a lot more confidence and self belief. At the very worst, at least Latics will have a decent right sided pairing in the Championship next season.

Paul Jewell needs fresh blood in the team now to avoid the drop, it is as simple as that. The Wigan fans, who have been subject to a few verbal attacks from their own club this season should be applauded to turn up in their thousands to watch this dross being served up as football.

WIGAN ATHLETIC, Chris Kirkland, Emmerson Boyce, Fitz Hall, (Ryan Taylor 65), David Unsworth, Leighton Baines, Luis Antonio Valencia, (David Cotterill 78), Josip Skoko, Denny Landzaat, Kevin Kilbane, Emile Heskey, Lee McCulloch. Subs not used, John Filan, Andreas Granqvist, Andreas Johnasson.

EVERTON, Tim Howard, Phil Neville, Joseph Yobo, Alan Stubbs, Joleon Lescott, Mikel Arteta, Leon Osman, Lee Carsley, Tim Cahill, (James Beattie 88), Simon Davies, Andy Johnson, (Victor Anichebe 60). Subs not used, Richard Wright, Andy Van Der Meyde, Allesandro Pistone.

Goal scorer, Mikel Arteta (pen) 65 mins, 90 mins

Referee, Howard Webb (South Yorkshire)

Attendance, 18, 149

Chelsea 4 v 0 Wigan Athletic

13th January 2007

Absolutely gutted because of a fifty yard free kick that nobody in the entire Latics team made an effort to clear that finds its way into the Latics net, an unbelievably bad back pass from debutant Kristofer Heastad resulted in a second goal 'gift' for Robben, an own goal by Kirky. AND ANOTHER GOAL SCORED IN 'TIME ADDED ON' AT THE END OF THE BLUDDY GAME!

Not a single Latics shot on target all game.In addition, a 'veteran' defender brought to the club purely as a last resort 'back up' plays a game as soon as it is humanly possible to do so after his signing, an unfit player takes part in the game and our only recognised striker is substituted by a centre midfielder. In addition hard core Latics fans start leaving Stamford Bridge with fifteen minutes of the game remaining.

Can things get any worse?

CHELSEA, Henrique Hilario, Paulo Ferreira, (Geremi 85), Ricardo Carvalho, Michael Essien, Wayne Bridge, Frank Lampard, Michael Ballack, Claude Makele, Salomon Kalou, (Jon Obi Mikel 81), Didier Drogba, Arjen Robben (Ben Sarhar 81). Subs not used, Carlo Cudicini, Shaun Wright Pillips.

Goal scorers, Frank Lampard 13 mins, Arjen Robben 63 mins, Chris Kirkland (og) 70 mins, Didier Drogba 90 mins

Booked, Didier Drogba 74 mins

WIGAN ATHLETIC, Chris Kirkland, Emmerson Boyce, Fitz Hall, David Unsworth, Leighton Baines, David Cotterill, (Ryan Taylor 65), Josip Skoko, Kristofer Haestad, (Denny Landzaat 73), Kevin Kilbane, Emile Heskey, (Andreas Johnasson 77), Lee McCulloch. Subs not used, John Filan, Thomasz Cywka.

Booked, Lee McCulloch 26 mins, David Cotterill 32 mins, Kristofer Heastad 50 minsReferee,

M Atkinson (West Yorkshire)

Attendance, 40,846

Portsmouth 2 v 1 Wigan Athletic (FA Cup 3rd Round)

16th January 2007

Wigan Athletic knew they were in for a battle during this game and Portsmouth's team line up confirmed their fears. Whilst Pompey fielded a virtual full strength team the Blues were once again chopped and changed.

Chris Kirkland was rested and his place in goal was taken by Mike Pollitt, with John Filan taking his place on the bench. There was no Arjan De Zeeuw, but his place was taken by debutant Andreas Granqvist. Lee McCulloch was back in the team following his three match suspension and partnered Emile Heskey up front as David Cotterill played in the right wing berth with Gary Teale on the bench.

Once again, the Blues were toothless, often chasing shadows and just how Pompey didn't go in at the break in full control of the game was more by luck than judgement. Mike Pollitt produced three fine saves, denying a rampant Portsmouth front line that was shooting at will, whilst loan signing Granqvist did very well to clear off the line as well. The Blues' only effort on goal fell to Heskey whose shot was easily saved by former England goalkeeper David James.

Harry Redknapp replaced Benjani Mwaruwari with Nwanko Kanu at half time, obviously hoping to spruce up his front line which had struggled to convert their chances in the first period. This plan seemed to have backfired for the first eighteen minutes of the second half as the game became a tense affair with neither team prepared to take any chances, but then Andy Cole burst into life to stun Latics by putting Portsmouth into the lead.

Two minutes later Latics' other loanee, Andreas Haestad, replaced Denny Landzaat as Paul Jewell tried to beef up his almost non existent midfield. Then four minutes after that he opted to replace the hapless Kevin Kilbane with Gary Teale in an attempt to inject a bit of pace into the team. And with only a goalkeeper and two defenders left on the bench, it really was Latics' last chance of taking something from the game. But it was the hosts who almost took a two goal lead but for another excellent save from Pollitt Sean Davis. Andreas Johansson had a half hearted attempt at goal and then Redknapp introduced former Latic David Thompson into the proceedings as he came on for Niko Kranjcar in the 79th minute.

Jewell's response was to make his third change of the game, tiring debutant Granqvist being replaced by Matt Jackson on the 80 minute mark.

Just three minutes later Gary Teale broke down the right wing and he passed a sublime ball into the path of Lee McCulloch who half volleyed beautifully into the roof of the net to stun the Pompey faithful. However, with the last kick off the match (when else?) Latics conceded a goal to finish the game off with Kanu slamming the ball past Pollitt.

The only saving grace for followers of both teams in the sparse crowd is that at least they don't have to see it all again at the JJB Stadium in the middle of next week.

PORTSMOUTH, David James, Linvoy Primus, Matt Taylor, Sol Campbell, Glen Johnson, Niko Kranjcar, (David Thompson 79), Gary O'Neill, Pedro Mendes, Sean Davis, Andy Cole, Benjani Mwaruwari, (Nwankwo Kanu 46). Subs not used, Jamie Ashdown, Andy O'Brien, Andy Griffin.

Goal scorers, Andy Cole 64 mins, Nwankwo Kanu 90 mins

WIGAN ATHLETIC, Mike Pollitt, Emmerson Boyce, Andreas Granqvist, (Matt Jackson 80), Fitz Hall, Leighton Baines, David Cotterill, Denny Landzaat, (Kristofer Haestad 66), Andreas Johansson, Kevin Kilbane, (Gary Teale 70), Lee McCulloch, Emile Heskey. Subs not used, John Filan, David Wright.

Goal scorers, Lee McCulloch 83 mins

Booked, Fitz Hall 82 mins

Referee, Phil Dowd (Staffordshire)

Attendance, 14,336

Wigan Athletic 0 v 3 Blackburn Rovers

1st January 2007

Wigan Athletic turned in a woeful display to bring in the new year, and if performances don't improve half of the year 2007 will most certainly see the club playing Championship level football.

This was one of the most shambolic displays seen for many a year. Considering that the game was a typical 'six pointer', the lack of fight and backbone displayed by Latics was unbelievable. Considering that it was these very qualities that were the mainstay in last season's team, manager Paul Jewell must now make this problem his number on priority to resolve. Because, in my own opinion, this team is not going to have the bottle for a relegation fight.

Admittedly, the squad is stretched due to injuries and the suspension of Lee McCulloch but there was not a single player on the pitch who looked even remotely like taking the game to Blackburn, who are far from a good team themselves. The team more or less picked itself and you would have thought that the players would have been in the mood to show the gaffer that, with the expected incoming transfers, they were still worthy of being considered for first team selection every week. Most of them are clearly not.

For the opening half hour of the game Latics were actually playing some good football, with Blackburn looking very ordinary indeed. However, when the visitors scored in the 37th minute courtesy of an own goal from Emile Heskey, and against the run of play, the hosts went to pieces.

All that Latics had offered in the first period was a well struck shot from Denny Landzaat which was excellently saved by Brad Friedel, little did the Wigan fans know then that this was to be their team's only worthwhile effort at goal.

Both managers made changes at half time, Jewell opted to bring on defender David Wright in place of natural midfielder Josip Skoko to boost the midfield, whilst Mark Hughes replaced Shabani Nonda with goal scoring substitute Matt Derbyshire, who gleefully rifled a 58th minute shot past Kirkland to effectively win the game for Rovers.

In a bid to win the game, if that's what it was, half of the team were then switched out of position. Admittedly Heskey was for most of the game anyway, helping out a shaky defence and considering that he is now the only fit striker at the club, that is a disgrace. The fans were then treated to seeing Wright switch to left back and Leighton Baines moved to the centre of midfield, a position that he has never played in! Johansson was huffing and puffing up front and his natural position is in the middle of the park. Landzaat just went missing completely, whilst Kevin Kilbane was about as much use as a ham and egg slice in a synagogue.

Latics' misery was complete when Bennie McCarthy stuck away a 76th minute penalty and by the time the referee's assistant declared that there was to be three minutes of 'time added on', almost half of the near 15,000 crowd had gone home in disgust. It must be said that if there were any casual fans in the crowd, then this display certainly will have put them off coming the the JJB Stadium for a long time.

It is quite ironic that Jewell and Dave Whelan have criticised the Wigan public for their apathy in the past, but this apathetic performance by the team will hurt Wigan Athletic a lot more seriously than a few thousand of the well known fickle local sports fans.

The arrivals of Andreas Granqvist and Norwegian international midfielder Kristofer Haestad can only help the situation, providing that both of them are slightly different than Jewell's other foreign signings, in that they are fit and ready to play immediately. It promises to be a frustrating January as a team one place above the Premiership trap door attempts to bring in the top quality players that must guarantee Premiership survival.

Unbelievably, a lot of fans are wondering whether it is time for a management change at the club. This is totally ludicrous. Paul Jewell, if he is to be judged at all, should be at the end of the season, and not a day before. Good managers and teams don't become bad ones over night and the Jewell knockers should ask themselves this.

..... who would we get that could do a better job than Jagger? Dowie? Robson? No thanks.

WIGAN ATHLETIC, Chris Kirkland, Emmerson Boyce, Arjan De Zeeuw, Fitz Hall, Leighton Baines, David Cotterill, Josip Skoko, (David Wright 46), Denny Landzaat, Kevin Kilbane, Andreas Johansson, Emile Heskey. Subs not used, Mike Pollitt, Matt Jackson, Gary Teale, Tomasz Cywka.

BLACKBURN ROVERS, Brad Feiedel, Brett Emerton, Stephane Henchoz, (Andy Todd 73), Durab Khizanishvili, Lucas Neill, David Bentley, Robbie Savage, Aaron Mokoena, Morten Gamst Pedersen, Shabani Nonda, (Matt Derbyshire 46), Benni McCarthy, (Paul Gallagher77). Subs not used, Jason Brown, Tugay Kerimoglu

Goal scorers, Emile Heskey (og) 37 mins, Matt Derbyshire 58 mins, Benni McCarthy (pen) 76 mins

Booked, David Bentley, Stephane Henchoa, Duran Khizanishvili, Aaron Mokoena, Lucas Neill

Referee, Mark Clattenburg (Tyne and Wear)

Attendance, 14,964

Watford 1 v 1 Wigan Athletic (Abandoned)

30th December 2006

Wigan Athletic made three changes for this crucial fixture at Vicarage Road. Arjan De Zeeuw came back into the central defence whilst Gary Teale was dropped to the bench to accommodate David Cotterill and Denny Landzaat was recalled into the midfield. And although the Blues were now down to the bare bones, Lee McCulloch was serving the last game of a three match ban. For the Hornets, Danny Shittu came through a late fitness unscathed, although Clarke Carlisle and Marlon King remained on the sidelines, whilst former Latic, Damien Francis was named among the Watford substitutes.

It was Watford who started the brightest at a soaking Vicarage Road with the Latics defence being put under a lot of pressure and as early as the second minute Chris Kirkland in the Wigan goal was fortunate that an Anthony McNamee shot skimmed the face of his goal with no Hornets player on hand to provide a simple tap in that would have opened the scoring. Two minutes late a Jordan Stewart free kick caused havoc in the Wigan penalty area which the defence eventually cleared.

Gradually Latics got into the game and Svetoslav Todorov, playing his last game for the club before returning to Portsmouth, had the ball in the Watford net nut not before running into an offside position before placing the ball past Ben Foster.

It was former England striker Emile Heskey who drew first blood scoring totally against the run of play in the 23rd minute when he latched on to a superb through ball from Kevin Kilbane. The goal deflated the Watford team who had been on top until the goal and on the half hour mark they should have drawn level but McNamee's shot was saved by Kirkland, shortly after David Cotterill had had a superb shot saved by Foster.

These two incidents gave the Hornets back some self belief and it came as no surprise, especially to the Wigan fans, that once again an opposing team scored in the final minute of a half. The grateful recipient of yet another Latics lack of concentration at this crucial time was Tamas Priskin as he headed home a Stewart cross that was delivered perfectly into the Latics' rain soaked penalty area. Paul Jewell was once again livid, and no doubt the players were given a roasting in the dressing room for what was a dreadful opening 45 minutes.

Both managers made no changes for the second half although Jewell must have been ruing the unavailability of both his new signings, Andreas Granqvist and Kristofer Haestad. Aidy Boothroyd decided to stick with Shittu in defence despite him looking in discomfort for most of the first half.

Latics had a penalty shout when Todorov went down in the Watford area in the 48th minute but referee Steve Tanner was far from convinced. The Vicarage Road pitch was becoming detrimental to any good football being played due to the very wet conditions and despite Latics looking much improved after the restart Jewell was having words with the fourth official, Graham Poll, about the state of the waterlogged pitch and within a minute play was suspended for ten minutes as the ground staff tried in vain to clear the vast quantities of water on the playing surface.

Both Jewell and Boothroyd came out during the break and both managers seemed agreed that the match could no longer be played in appropriate conditions and it came as no surprise at all when the match was called off. The official reason was that it was abandoned for the safety of the players.

WATFORD, Ben Foster, Jordan Stewart, Danny Shittu, Jay Demerit, Adrian Mariappa, Anthony McNamee, Alhassan Bangura, Gavin Mahon, Ashley Young, Tamas Priskin, Tommy Smith. Subs not used, Richard Lee, Lloyd Doyley, Damien Francis, Albert Jarrett, Darius Henderson.

Goal scorer, Tamas Priskin 44 mins

WIGAN ATHLETIC, Chris Kirkland, Emmerson Boyce, Arjan De Zeeuw, David Wright, Leighton Baimes, David Cotterill, Josip Skoko, Denny Landzaat, Kevin Kilbane, Svetoslav Todorov, Emile Heskey. Subs not used, Mike Pollitt, Matt Jackson, Fitz Hall, Gary Teale, Andreas Johansson.

Goal scorer, Emile Heskey 23 mins

Booked, Svetoslav Todorov 47 mins

Referee, Steve Tanner (Somerset)

Manchester United 3 v 1 Wigan Athletic

26th December 2006

Wigan Athletic arrived at Old Trafford decimated by injuries (Arjan De Zeeuw, Luis Antonio Valencia, Paul Scharner, Henri Camara), and a suspension for Lee McCulloch. Manager Paul Jewell must have been a relieved man when he found out that Sir Alex Ferguson had left Cristiano Ronaldo and Luis Saha on the bench, not only that, but Rio Ferdinand wasn't even named in the squad.

Ferguson has never been one to take any team lightly, and the first twelve minutes of the game seemed to justify his team selection as Chris Kirkland pulled off two saves in quick succession from Wayne Rooney and then Paul Scholes as the game was played exclusively in the Wigan half. Latics' first real chance of note came on the quarter hour mark when a cross from Gary Teale was met by Emile Heskey, but the former England hit man headed wide.

The Red Devils were certainly causing the Blues lots of problems as they were obviously lifted by the news that their nearest rivals, Chelsea, had already been held 2-2 at Stamford Bridge by Reading. It looked unlikely that Latics would pull off such a good result as within a minute of Heskey's effort Rooney only just failed to open the scoring for United.

However, by the half hour mark it seemed that the stubborn Latics defence (which was effectively six men strong) had silenced the lively United front men and the Old Trafford crowd, previously in high spirits, had been quietened down. Rooney in particular started to look frustrated and he had resorted to shooting from distance. In the 33rd minute Rooney did break through the Latics rearguard, but Kirkland raced off his line before he could unleash his shot.

With Bulgarian international Svetoslav Todorov playing up front in the place of the injured Henri Camara. Latics lacked sparkle up front and the very few half chances that came Latics' way were wasted by a striking partnership that was looking very ineffective. On the plus side, the top quality Red Devils strike force was becoming more and more frustrated as the Blues were regularly pushing all bar one outfield player into defence as the half time whistled beckoned.

Still United kept coming at Latics and with five minutes of the half remaining Rooney failed to connect with a superb through ball from Scholes, whilst Park was denied by Leighton Baines who conceded a corner. The frustration on the face of the United manager clearly showed as United then failed to take advantage of the three corner kicks that resulted from it.

Given Latics' current record of conceding goals in injury time, there were no doubt some twisting Latics buttocks when the fourth official indicted that two minutes were to be allowed for 'time added on'. Thankfully for the Blues, there was no shock awaiting them this time in front of a PREMIERSHIP record crowd.

Latics didn't make any changes for the start of the second period, whilst Ferguson opted to replace Darren Fletcher with Cristiano Ronaldo. And with just one minute and five seconds of the second half gone the Portuguese winger had headed United in front from a Paul Scholes corner. just three minutes later Gary Teale brought down Park in the penalty area and referee Mike Riley immediately pointed to the penalty spot. Ronaldo missed the penalty but he slammed in the rebound and Old Traffiord went wild.

The foul on Park was Teale's last match action as a furious Paul Jewell replaced the Scotland midfielder with young Wales striker David Cotterill. All the substitution did was cause the team to lose what little stability it had and on the 59th minute mark Ole Gunnar Solskjaer netted United's third goal with a sweetly taken effort that gave Kirkland no chance. Ironically this was Solskjaer's first goal since his last one, also scored against Latics at the JJB Stadium earlier in the season.

With all three points in the bag Ferguson opted to replace Scholes with Kieran Richardson on the hour mark. Jewell replaced Fitz Hall with Josip Skoko two minutes later as Latics were clearly rattled and in danger of losing the game by as many runs as England cricket team earned against Australia the previous day. The sight of Luis Saha warming up pitch side also did little to settle the nerves of the Latics faithful. Sheer class was the obvious difference between the two teams on display.

Latics were now no longer at the races as firstly Kevin Kilbane and then Heskey both tried in vain to breach the United defence just after Ferguson had made his final substitution of the game replacing Patrice Evra for Gabriel Heinze.

Wayne Rooney must have been wondering if he would score during the game, as in the 74th minute he rattled the Latics crossbar with a superb volley just outside the area. Far from settling for their three goal advantage United looked for more goals, more in an effort to help the goals for column in their battle with Chelsea than in causing Latics maximum embarrassment and they looked on course to do it for the remaining quarter of an hour. Rooney and Ronaldo were effectively partaking in shooting practice for the remainder of the game and the only surprise at the final whistle was that Latics hadn't conceded another goal in time added on at the end.

In fact, it was Latics' turn to do so, as Leighton Baines converted a penalty with the last kick of the match. Like Solskjaer earlier, this was also Baines' first goal since the earlier game at the JJB Stadium.

This result, coupled with Chelsea dropping two points, meant that United's lead at the top of the Premiership was extended. Latics meanwhile were slipping down the table at an alarming rate, and Saturday's game against Watford at Vicarage Road is now going to be a massive game, defeat could leave Latics firmly entrenched in a relegation battle. And defeat is a distinct possibility given this totally inept and tactically naive display.

Admittedly the squad is suffering badly from injuries and suspensions but there is insufficient strength in depth and there will more than likely be extensive activity in the transfer market next month given the Blues' disastrous run of results over the festive season.

MANCHESTER UNITED, Edwin Van Der Sar, Mikael Silvestre, Wes Brown, John O'Shea, Patrice Evra, (Gabriel Heinze 65), Nemanja Vidic, Darren Fletcher, (Cristiano Ronaldo 46), Paul Scholes, Wayne Rooney, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, Ji-Sung Park. Subs not used, Tomasz KuszczaL, Luis Saha.

Goal scorer, Cristiano Ronaldo 47 mins, 51 mins, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer 57 mins

WIGAN ATHLETIC, Chris Kirkland, Emmerson Boyce, Fitz Hall, (Josip Skoko 62), Matt Jackson, Leighton Baines, Gary Teale, (David Cotterill 51), David Wright, Andreas Johansson, Kevin Kilbane, Emile Heskey, Svetoslav Todorov Subs not used, Mike Pollitt, Denny Landzaat, Tomasz Cywka.

Goal scorer, Leighton Baines (pen) 90 mins

Referee, Mike Riley (West Yorkshire)

Attendance, 76.018

Wigan Athletic 2 v 3 Chelsea

23rd December 2006

Wigan Athletic started this game missing a host of key players and, on paper at least, looked like they were in for a hiding. Luis Antonio Valencia was once again missing, although Gary Teale did earn a place on the substitutes bench following his recovery from injury. Up front top scorer Henri Camara was missing with an injury that would keep him out of all the festive fixtures and possibly the whole of January. Lee McCulloch was serving the first of a three match ban for a ridiculous punching incident at the end of the previous match against Sheffield United at the JJB Stadium, for which he was also fined by the club. Paul Jewell, who does not possess much strength in depth at the moment had to play Andreas Johnasson in an unfamiliar role on the right wing whilst Svetoslav Todorov started his first game as a Latics player in place of Camara.

Jose Mourinho on the other hand could call on the services of returning duo Frank Lampard, and Michael Ballack to add to his already top quality team line up.

For the first ten minutes things went according to the script. Chelsea bombarded the Latics back line and the only surprise was that it took 13 minutes for Chelsea to finally break down the Latics defence, springing the offside trap and calmly slotting the ball past Chris Kirkland to silence the sell out Wigan crowd.

Latics to their credit, tried to get back on terms immediately but a good cross by Emmerson Boyce was easily cut out by Henrique Hilario in the Chelsea goal. In the 21st minute the Blues had a let off when Michael Essien mis-hit a pass to Didier Drogba who was clean through on goal. However, this was just a blip from the Chelsea front line, cheered on by just 2,000 fans, as Latics conceded a soft goal on the hour mark. Jewell must have been fuming as Salomon Kalou rose unmarked in the penalty area to head home a ordinary looking corner kick from Arjen Robben.

Just then every Latics fan in the ground feared the worst as memories of big defeats to Manchester United and Liverpool at the JJB Stadium were being recalled in their minds. Latics, looked dead and buried but gradually they began to come back into the game. In the 40th minute Kevin Kilbane forced a good save from Hilario and four minutes later Robben was booked for a horrible tackle on Denny Landzaat as the Latics midfield started to turn the screw.

Then, right on the stroke of half time Emile Heskey broke through the stubborn Chelsea defence to head the ball into the Chelsea net from close range. Game on!

The second half belonged almost exclusively to Wigan Athletic. Chelsea were made to look very ordinary and they were seriously rattled by a fresh looking Latics team determined to get something out of the game. Lampard in particular was becoming more and more frustrated, remonstrating with the referee constantly and only a booking for the England midfielder calmed him down. Jewell opted to replace Johansson with David Cotterill in the 72nd minute, clearly believing Latics could get something from the game. The young Welsh striker immediately started causing Chelsea problems down the right side of the pitch and it was he who supplied the cross for Heskey to gleefully equalise in the 75th minute.

The JJB Stadium went wild, and Mourinho looked a very nervous figure in the dug out, particularly as he knew that leader Manchester United had already beaten Aston Villa earlier in the day. There was then a flurry of activity with regards to substitutes four minutes later. Jewell replaced the tiring Todorov with Gary Teale, figuring the extra pace he would provide could win the game for Latics. Mourinho opted to replace Khalid Boulahrouz and Claude Makelele with John Obi Mikel and Andriy Shevchenko.

It took Chelsea until the 40th minute of the second period to trouble Latics and that was from a poorly hit corner from Robben. However, like last season, and from the very same blade of grass that Hernan Crespo broke Latics hearts, it was Robben who lashed in a shot to win the game for Chelsea in the first minute of time added on.

Talk about Deja Vu. In a way this defeat was harder to take as the Blues had come from two goals behind to lose in such heart breaking fashion. They say luck evens itself out over the course of a season, surely Latics are due some at Old Trafford on Boxing Day?

WIGAN ATHLETIC, Chris Kirkland, Emmerson Boyce, Fitz Hall, Arjan De Zeeuw, Leighton Baines, Andreas Johansson, (David Cotterill 72), Denny Landzaat, (David Wright 84), Josip Skoko, Kevin Kilbane, Emile Heskey, Svetoslav Todorov (Gary Teale 77). Subs not used, Mike Pollitt, Matt Jackson

Goal scorers, Emile Heskey 45 mins, 75 mins

Booked, Emile Heskey 72 mins, Kevin Kilbane 90 mins, Arjan De Zeeuw 90 mins

CHELSEA, Henrique Hilario, Ricardo Carvalho, Ashley Cole, Khalid Boulahrouz, (Andriy Shevchenko 79), Frank Lampard, Claude Makele, (John Obi Mikel 79), Michael Ballack, Michael Essien, Salomon Kalou, Didier Drogba, Arjen Robben (Ndjitap Geremi 90). Subs not used, Magnus Hedman, Wayne Bridge.

Goal scorers, Frank Lampard 13 mins, Salomon Kalou 31 mins, Arjen Robben 96 mins

Booked, Arjen Robben 44 mins, Khalid Boulahrouz 47 mins, Frank Lampard 68 mins, John Obi Mikel 87 mins

Referee, Mike Dean (Wirral)

Attendance, 22,077

Wigan Athletic 0 v 1 Sheffield United

16th December 2006

Wigan Athletic suffered a pointless four days by the time 5.50pm arrived this afternoon. Pointless, goalless and winless is also the situation with regards to the last four games at the JJB Stadium as well. Worryingly, the team doesn't look very confident at all and this time Paul Jewell can't blame the fans for another 'dispirited' (his words, not mine) performance.

Only Australian midfielder Josip Skoko and Chris Kirkland came out of this game with any credit, with the rest of the team simply not turning up on the day. This Wigan Athletic team, on paper at least, should have taken the Blades to the cleaners, and whilst we all know football isn't played on paper, the truth of the matter is that Latics' squad of millionaires REALLY should have been good enough against a Neil Warnock outfit containing, at best, Championship quality players all over the field.

A dour first half of football that would have shamed some Conference teams didn't produce a single worthy effort on goal and the only decent CROSS of note was produced by Steve Quinn in the second minute of the two minutes time allowed by Northamptonshire based referee Mr Walton. Incredibly, Rob Hulse connected and slammed the ball past Chris Kirkland for what turned out to be the games only goal.

And as if things weren't bad enough for the fans, within seconds of the first half ending they had to endure a 'Wham' tribute act called 'Bad Boys' as the half time entertainment! I can only suggest that they were absolute pap and the real bad boys were getting a half time rollicking from an irate Paul Jewell.

Henri Camara failed to return for the second period having been replaced by David Cotterill. And even though the second half did produce football of a slightly better quality, and I stress the word 'slightly', the Blues still didn't look good enough to score against the team predicted by most pundits to go down this season. The Blades were even awarded a penalty by the referee who after consultation with his assistant on the right hand touchline then reversed his decision. This should have been the catalyst of a Latics revival, but that wasn't the case.

A lacklustre Kevin Kilbane, who couldn't convert Latics' only chance of the game into a goal was replaced by Svetoslav Todorov for the final ten minutes of the game. However, by then the Blades had an almost ten man defence, and quite understandably were determined to hang on to what they had got.

Paul Jewell intimated earlier this month, that should December prove a bad month with regards to results going against Latics that he would bring in up to five or six new players in January.

I reckon he should reconsider this statement and opt to bring in an entirely new team who will want to play for the club, because quite frankly, that shower out there did not want to do so today.

WIGAN ATHLETIC, Chris Kirkland, Emmerson Boyce, (David Wright 65), Fitz Hall, Arjan De Zeeuw, Leighton Baines, Lee McCulloch, Denny Landzaat, Josip Skoko, Kevin Kilbane, (Svetoslav Todorov 79), Emile Heskey, Henri Camara, (David Cotterill 46). Subs not used, Mike Pollitt, Andreas Johansson.

SHEFFIELD UNITED, Paddy Kenny, Chris Morgan, Rob Kozluk, Claude Davis, Derek Geary, Steven Quinn, (Chris Armstrong 70), Phil Jagielka, Michael Tongue, (Nick Montgomery 70), Keith Gillespie, Danny Webber, (Leigh Bromby 88), Rob Hulse. Subs not used, Colin Kazim-Richards, Christian Nade.

Goal scorer, Rob Hulse 45 mins

Booked, Chris Morgan 68 mins, Claude Davis 73 mins

Referee, P Walton

Attendance, 16,332

Wigan Athletic 0 v 1 Arsenal

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Middlesbourgh 1 v 1 Wigan Athletic

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West Ham United 0 v 2 Wigan Athletic

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Wigan Athletic 0 v 4 Liverpool

2nd December 2006

Wigan Athletic suffered a record Premiership home defeat at the JJB Stadium yesterday, and if the truth be told it was half expected given Latics' previous performance against Tottenham Hotspur at White Hart Lane last week.

Paul Jewell had to tinker about with his side again prior to kick off as Arjan De Zueew is still injured, this meant that Fitz Hall deputised and the Blues do not possess a fit right winger and so Lee McCulloch was drafted onto the opposite berth that he usually excels in. And the only bit of good news for Leighton Baines was that being the player with the most Premiership experience in the squad, he was named captain for the day.

Rafa Benitez was able to draft in Xabi Alonso who had recovered from injury and the livewire Craig Bellamy replaced Peter Crouch in attack for the Reds. Unfortunately for Latics they caught Bellamy in red hot form following his recent court case and the former Blackburn hit man ran riot all afternoon.

It was Bellamy who scored Liverpool's opening goal after just nine minutes when he raced past the Latics defence in the ninth minute as if it wasn't there. After intercepting a lovely pass from Jon Arne Riise in his own half. Emmerson Boyce failed to head the long ball clear and Bellamy sprinted past a static Matt Jackson to loop the ball over Chris Kirkland. From that moment on, Latics felt the full force of the Anfield machine as they ripped apart a Latics team that just could not cope with it. Foolishly, Latics seemed to be counterattacking Liverpool's goal scoring threat by playing the offside rule and this was to backfire with horrendous results.

Wave after wave of Liverpool pressure produced Liverpool's second goal in the 26th minute, following the Mike Riley show which had taken centre stage since the previous goal. The West Yorkshire based official had not seen a deliberate handling by Bellamy, whilst Emmerson Boyce was booked in the 14th minute for nothing. Emile Heskey was then virtually nullified from the game after being booked for a seeming hard but fair challenge for the ball in the Liverpool penalty area three minutes later. After that he was loathe to challenge for any fifty fifty ball, knowing a red card could quite easily be pulled out by the over zealous referee next time.

Alonso was booked in the 24th minute following a foul on Baines just outside the Liverpool area, but the Blues wasted their free kick and they paid dearly for it two minutes later when Steve Gerrard found Bellamy who this time shook off a more resolute looking Latics defence to slam the ball past Kirkland. There was a lucky escape for Latics on the half hour mark when Mike Riley deemed Bellamy offside despite Fitz Hall actually playing the striker onside. Had the referee not made this mistake Bellamy would have netted a hat trick, which would have seen him reach the 50 goal mark of his top flight career.

The difference between the two teams was clinical finishing and for all Liverpool's possession, Latics did have two excellent chances, both of which were fluffed before Dirk Kuyt scored Liverpool's third goal, with their third shot on target, in the 40th minute. When Lee McCulloch headed past his own keeper following a tame cross into the box by Gerrard the genuine Latics fans feared the worst for the second half. Another 500 or so Latics 'supporters' trooped out of the ground as they just couldn't stand the thought of the massacre that was going to take place in the second half.

However, Jewell brought on David Wright for Jackson and David Cotterill for the strangely ineffective Kevin Kilbane and the Blues managed to avoid the expected drubbing as Liverpool posed little threat for the whole of the second half. Latics had a goal chalked off for offside when the ball was put in the net midway through the second period and they missed a glorious chance in the closing minutes when Canara struck the post and the rebound was put wide.

However, the upturn in fortunes may well have been due to the fact that Liverpool had taken their foot off the gas, not because the Latics display had improved for that second half. Next up for Latics is a trip to Upton Park to take on West Ham United on Wednesday evening and as much better display is needed to ensure that thirteenth placed Latics are not dragged into a relegation scrap.

Hopefully, when the transfer window re opens Jewell can bring in defensive reinforcements because with De Zeeuw, the defence looks like it's built on sand.

WIGAN ATHLETIC, Chris Kirkland, Emmerson Boyce, Fitz Hall, Matt Jackson, (David Wright 46), Leighton Baines, Lee McCulloch, Paul Scharner, Josip Skoko, Kevin Kilbane, (David Cotterill 46), Lee McCulloch, Emile Heskey, Henri Camara. Subs not used, Mike Pollitt, Denny Landzaat, Andreas Johansson.

Booked, Emmerson Boyce, Emile Heskey

LIVERPOOL, Jose Reina, Steve Finnan, Sami Hyppia, (Gabriel Paletta 61), Daniel Agger, Jan Arne Riise, Luis Garcia, (Jermaine Pennant 53), Jamie Carragher, Steve Gerrard, (Danny Guthrie 79), Xabi Alonso, Dirk Kuyt, Craig Bellamy. Subs not used, Jerzy Dudek, Robbie Fowler.

Goal scorers, Craig Bellamy 9 mins, 26 mins, Dirk Kuyt 40 mins, Lee McCulloch 0g 45 mins.

Booked, Xabi Alonso, Craig Bellamy

Referee, Mike Riley (West Yorkshire)

Attendance, 22.089

Tottenham Hotspur 3 v 1 Wigan Athletic

26th November 2006

Wigan Athletic's management, team and fans can have no qualms about this result. Latics, for the second half in particular, were made to look very ordinary indeed by a confident Spurs team for whom everything seemed to gel on the day.

Following on from their European exploits, Tottenham's strike force took their chances clinically, whilst the Blues are still struggling to put their chances away. Things looked rosy for Latics when Henri Canara scored a beautiful goal in the 25th minute when Lee McCulloch beat former Latic, Pascal Chimbonda, to the ball and headed into the path of the oncoming Canara who struck a beautiful half volley into the roof of the Tottenham net.

And from then on, things went downhill for Latics. For the vast majoprity of this season Latics have conceded goals at crucial periods in their games, most notably the closing minutes of each half. And yesterday at White Hart Lane was no exception. Just a minute after Camara had struck his seventeenth goal for the club, Chris Kirkland had to make a superb double save from Steed Malbranque and Jermaine Defoe to keep Spurs at bay, but in the 43rd minute there was little he could do when the electrifying Dimita Berbatov, a 10.9 million pounds signing from Bayer Leverkusen, fooled Emmerson Boyce in the Latics defence and crossed to Defoe and the England hot shot fired the ball into the net to equalise.

Latics then crumbled. Within a minute Berbatov himself scored a spectacular goal after turning Matt Jackson inside out and then blasting the ball into the right side of the net to put the rampant Spurs into a lead that they were never going to relinquish given the poor display that Latics put in for the second period of the game.

The only surprise of the day was that it took Tottenham until the last minute of the game to secure a third goal. This came courtesy of Aaron Lennon's fine shot following good work from Berbatov.

The result meant that Latics finished the day in eleventh place in the Premiership on 18 points and next up for Latics are Liverpool at the JJB Stadium next weekend. If Latics are to continue to push for a respectable finish to this league campaign a good result against the Merseysiders is essential. Given the fact that Latics have never beaten one of the big clubs in a Premiership fixture, next week would be a nice one in which to break that unwanted duck.

TOTTENHAM HOTSPUR, Paul Robinson, Pascal Chimbonda, Michael Dawson, Ledley King, Bennoit Assou-Ekotto, Aaron Lennon, Tom Huddlestone, Didier Zokora, Steed Malbranque, Dimitar Berbatov, Jermaine Defoe, (Robbie Keane 83). Subs not used, Radek Cerny, Young-Pyo Lee, Edgar Davids, Danny Murphy.

Goal scorers, Jermaine Defoe 43 mins, Dimitar Berbatove 44 mins, Aaron Lennon 90 mins

Booked, Michale Dawson, Didier Zokora

WIGAN ATHLETIC, Chris Kirkland, Emmerson Boyce, David Wright, (Fitz Hall 67), Matt Jackson, Leighton Baines, Gary Teale, (Emile Heskey 29), Paul Scharner, Josip Skoko, Kevin Kilbane, (David Cotterill 78), Lee McCulloch, Henri Camara. Subs not used, Mike Pollitt, Denny Landzaat.

Goal scorer, Henri Camara 25 mins

Booked, Leighton Baines, Emmerson Boyce, Josip Skoko

Referee, Mark Clattenburg (Tyne and Wear)

Attendance, 35.205

Wigan Athletic 0 v 0 Aston Villa

19th November 2006

Wigan Athletic recorded their first ever Premiership 0-0 result today (Sunday 19th November 2006) against Aston Villa at the JJB Stadium. The result moved Latics up to ninth place in the Premiership, whilst also denying Villa, (who have only been beaten in one Premiership game this season), third place in the League.

There is an old joke that does the rounds at any football ground, on any given occasion, when one fan will turn to his mate and say 'they were lucky to get nil!". Well that was certainly true of Aston Villa today. If this game had been a boxing match, it would have been akin to Mike Tyson in his prime taking on John Inman in his! And this was despite the Blues fielding a supposedly weakened team.

Latics manager Paul Jewell was forced to make four changes to his team as injuries started to bite deeply into his squad. Left back Leighton Baines missed his first game of the season after picking up a knock during his England Under 21 duties in midweek, his place taken by David Wright. Denny Landzaat, who played for Holland against England in midweek. was missing his place taken by Australian international Josip Skoko. Matt Jackson replaced Scotland international Andy Webster in the centre of the defence and Emile Heskey is still suffering from a niggling injury, so Lee McCulloch was pushed up front alongside Henri Camara.

Villa, for their part were deprived of the services of banned Gavin McCann, but were bolstered by the return of top scorer Gareth Barry who had recovered from a badly bruised back.

Within two minutes Latics should have been in front when McCulloch headed a sublime Camara cross straight at Villa goalkeeper Thomas Sorensen, and just a minute later Paul Scharner sent a 25 yard shot just right of the post. Gary Teale was playing particularly well on the wide right, combining well with Emmerson Boyce to run a jaded looking Villa rearguard ragged as Latics started to dominate proceedings.

It took the Villan's quarter of an hour to launch their first meaningful attack, and in fairness it was a let off for the Blues as Peter Whittingham's shot hit the post with Chris Kirkland well beaten in the Wigan goal. Just how Latics failed to score is a mystery but a little less showboating from the blistering Senegalese hit-man Camara could have helped. Villa offered nothing up front whilst the Blues were creating chances, willy-nilly and failing to make any of them count.

Within a couple of minutes of the second half commencing the Latics faithful must have sensed that Latics were perhaps going to play out a 0-0 draw for the first time since 23rd April 2005 when Queens Park Rangers held Latics to a 0-0 draw in a Championship encounter. Under intense Wigan pressure, Villa defender Isaiah Osbourne headed the ball onto his own post and two minutes later Sorensen denied Scharner.

Martin O'Neill was not liking what he was witnessing and in the 51st minute he brought on Didier Agathe for Peter Whittingham. His introduction did little to change the pattern of the game as Latics continued to pepper the Villa goal, to no avail. O'Neill then decided to bring on Steve Davis for Juan Pablo Angel in the 67th minute, pushing Gabriel Agbonlahor in a more forward position and gradually the Latics central defensive partnership of Arjan De Zeeuw and Matt Jackson had a little pace to contend with.

Agbonlahor suddenly became a handful and after he put Gareth Barry clear on the outside left channel Jackson was penalised by referee Steve Bennett for a late tackle. Two minutes later Agbonlahor was clean through on goal and a last ditch tackle by Skoko prevented him from scoring from what would have been Villa's second shot on target.

Paul Jewell replaced Teale for David Cotterill in the 76th minute and then three minutes later introduced Landzaat into the game as man of the match Skoko trooped off the pitch to huge applause. With ten minutes remaining Kevin Kilbane's free kick was cleared by the shaky Villa defence and Sorensen needed two attempts to deny Latics a goal from the resultant corner.

As is the norn at the JJB Stadium these days Latics were causing their support a few anxious moments towards the end and the final whistle, when it came was greeted with some relief as this was another game in which Latics battered their opponents, but lacked that knock out punch.

WIGAN ATHLETIC, Chris Kirkland, Emmerson Boyce, Arjan De Zeeuw, Matt Jackson, David Wright, Gary Teale, (David Cotterill 76), Paul Scharner, Josip Skoko, (Denny Landzaat 78), Kevin Kilbane, Lee McCulloch, Henri Camara. Subs not used, John Filan, Andy Webster, Andreas Johansson

Booked, Matt Jackson 72 mins

ASTON VILLA, Thomas Sorensen, Gareth Barry, Olaf Mellberg, Wilfred Bouma, Gary Cahill, Isaiah Osbourne, Liam Ridgewell, Peter Whittingham, (Didier Agathe 51), Gabriel Agbonlahor, Juan Pablo Angel, (Steve Davis 67), Chris Sutton. Subs not used, Stewart Taylor, Patrik Berger, Milan Baros.

Referee, Steve Bennett (Kent)

Attendance, 18.455

Wigan Athletic 3 v 2 Charlton

11th November 2006

Wigan Athletic climbed up to eighth place in the Premiership following what turned out to be a hard fought victory over basement club Charlton Athletic in monsoon conditions at the JJB Stadium yesterday.

Manager Paul Jewell, was forced into making two changes for the start of the game, bringing in David Cotterill to make his full Latics debut in place of Gary Teale, whilst Lee McCulloch played up front in place of the injured former England striker Emile Heskey. Charlton manager Iain Dowie brought in Darren Ambrose for a rare start following injury to Dennis Rhomedahl, whilst he left Jimmy Floyd Haaselbaink on the bench, despite his two goal haul against Chesterfield in mid week.

Latics who are now proving their Premiership durability, courtesy of being the highest placed of all the promoted teams from the past two seasons, were made to work hard to secure all three points despite being in full control of the game at half time. For the first ten minutes of the game both midfield sections were cancelling each other out, with the Addicks playing a lot of football that was pleasing to the eye. However, when it came to the final third of the pitch they severely lacked a strong imposing presence up front.

Lee McCulloch, who has been linked with a move to the Valley in January, showed Dowie exactly what he could do when he opened the scoring for Latics in the 13th minute courtesy of a classic 'route one' approach that would have made John Beck proud when he was manager of Cambridge United in the early 1990's! England goalkeeper Chris Kirkland hoofed the ball down the centre of the park and the bounce fooled Charlton defender Souleymane Diawara, leaving Scotland midfielder McCulloch to latch on to the ball and gleefully slam it past Charlton's loanee keeper Scott Carson.

The weather conditions gradually worsened as the game wore on as the swirling wind a streaming rain threatened to ruin the game. However such was the skill and technique (of both teams) the conditions didn't affect the quality of the game in progress.

Charlton's biggest threat was of course Darren Bent and Kirkland had to save well to deny him a goal just minutes after Latics had taken the lead. The game swung from end to end but in the 41st minute Kirkland saved a free kick that was struck by Bent. He immediately cleared the ball with McCulloch the first player to react. He raced up the pitch and passed the ball to Senegal striker Henri Camara who scored a sublime goal from a 20 yard volley to celebrate the birth of his baby son just 24 hours earlier.

By now the game was won, or so everybody in the JJB Stadium thought!

However Iain Dowie replaced Matt Holland with Jimmy Floyd Haaselbaink for the restart, and almost immediately, the Addicks had the imposing figure up front that they had lacked during the first half. Within minutes his jinking run forced Arjan De Zeeuw into an error and luckily for Latics, the livewire Andy Reid hit the resulting free kick high, wide and not very handsome.

Then in the 52nd minute Darren Bent seized on a slip from Scotland defender Andy Webster and slammed the ball past Kirkland for the Addicks' first goal. Just minutes later a slip by Leighton Baines almost allowed Haaselbaink in on goal and suddenly the Latics defence was wobbling. Jewell decided to bring David Wright into the action in the 60th minute and his man marking of Andy Reid calmed down the Addicks' imposing midfield and when he took off Cotterill, replacing him with Ecuador midfielder Luis Antonio Valencia, Latics regained control of the situation.

However, if there was ever an inspired substitution the next one made by the Latics boss was it. He brought on Matt Jackson for Webster who had been given the run-around by the Addicks' forwards. He was brought on in the 75th minute and two minutes later he had headed Latics into a two goal lead again! Game over.

Charlton substitute Marcus Bent did manage an injury time consolation, but this will have done little to help the Addicks stave off the threat of relegation in seven months time.

As for Latics, they are pressing onwards and upward after four wins on the bounce. During those games they have played beautiful football, scruffy football, stood up to bully boy tactics and even tried the route one method. They look well equipped to take on, and beat, the good, the bad and the ugly of the Premiership.

WIGAN ATHLETIC, Chris Kirkland, Emmerson Boyce, Arjan De Zeeuw, Andy Webster, (Matt Jackson 75), Leighton Baines, David Cotterill, (Luis Antonio Valencia 57), Paul Scharner, Denny Landzaat, (David Wright 60), Kevin Kilbane, Lee McCulloch 28, Henri Camara, (Andreas Johansson 88). Subs not used, John Filan, Andreas Johansson

Goal scorers, Lee McCulloch 13 mins, Henri Camara 41 mins, Matt Jackson 78 mins

Booked, Paul Scharner 35 mins, David Cotterill 40 mins

CHARLTON ATHLETIC, Scott Carson, Luke Young, Hermann Hreidarsson, Souleymane Diawara, (Radostin Kishishev 75), Talal El Harkouri, Matt Holland, (Jimmy Floyd Haaselbaink 46), Darren Ambrose, (Marcus Bent 84), Amdy Faye, Andy Reid. Jerome Thomas, Darren Bent. Subs not used, Stephan Andersen, Osei Sankofa.

Goal scorers, Darren Bent 52 mins, Marcus Bent 90 mins

Referee, Dermot Gallagher (Oxfordshire)

Attendance, 16,572

Bolton Wanderers 0 v 1 Wigan Athletic

14th November 2006

Wigan Athletic came out on top at the end of this drab, rather uninspiring, local derby. The quality of the match itself is easily forgotten by the Latics faithful though, as they saw their team remain unbeaten by Bolton Wanderers for the third Premiership game in a row thanks to a 79th minute strike from substitute Lee McCulloch.

The Horwich based Wanderers are a very tough nut to crack due to their robust, hustling type of game and as early as the 28th minute the Blues had to make their first substitution of the game with Emile Heskey being taken off with McCulloch the man replacing the former England striker who is having a torrid time with a niggling thigh injury at the moment. Things, got worse for the Latics just five minutes later when Gary Teale was forced out of action with Welsh striker David Cotterill replacing him to make only his second appearance of the season.

This disrupted the Latics formation and tactics, and as the first half was drawing to a close it was Bolton who were in the ascendancy, but as referee Mark Clattenburg, blew for half time all that the Trotters had to show was a woeful shot hit over the bar by their super duper mega bucks goal less striker Nicolas Anelka, and a Gary Speed free kick that was easily saved by England goalkeeper Chris Kirkland in the Latics goal.

Latics for their part, hadn't fared much better, although Cotterill, a player who looks to have a very bright future in the game, should perhaps have done a little better in the closing minute when he hit a shot straight at Jussi Jaaskelainen. The last action of the first period was a foul by Leighton Baines on Kevin Davies. However, it was Davies who went into the book following his reaction to the foul. It seems that Davies loves to dish it out but is not prepared to take a knock or two in return. Pathetic!

The second half saw no changes made to either team, and in all faimess, it was Bolton who looked the more likely of the two sides to score the opening goal. Five minutes after the restart El Hadj Diouff was spitting mad when Anelka's poorly struck shot from his free kick was charged down by the Latics defence. The Blues survived a penalty appeal when the home fans bayed for a spot kick following a perceived handling offence in the box by Latics left back Baines. Fortunately the referee decided against the spot kick and indicated that the ball had come off the young lad's chest.

In the 73rd minute of the game Sam Allardyce opted to bring on Ricardo Vaz Te in place of the ineffective Davies, but this tactic proved fruitless and just six minutes later McCulloch slammed the ball past Jaaskelainen to grab the winning goal. The goal was the result of a sublime back heel from Camara which found Kevin Kilbane bearing down on the Wanderers goal. He then opted to lay the ball off to McCulloch who was steaming in on goal and he hit his shot sweetly, finding the bottom corner of the net in what was actually Latics' first proper attempt at goal in the second half.

The goal had knocked the stuffing out of the home side and Latics played out the final ten minutes of the game with no problems whatsoever. The victory was Latics' second away win on the bounce and saw the team climb up to tenth place in the Premiership.

Next up are Charlton Athletic at the JJB Stadium next week and a win against Iain Dowie's strugglers could see Latics riding high in the Premiership, challenging for Europe!

BOLTON WANDERERS, Jussi Jaaskelainen, Abdoulaye Meite, Tal Ben Haim, Abdoulaye Diagne-Faye, Gary Speed, (Idan Tal 90), Ivan Campo, Stelios Giannakopoulos, Henrik Pedersen, (Nicky Hunt 90), Kevin Davies, (Ricardo Vaz Te 74), El Hadj Diouf, Nicolas Anelka. Subs not used, Ali Al Habsi, Johann Smith.

Booked, Kevin Davies 45 mins

WIGAN ATHLETIC, Chris Kirkland, Emmerson Boyce, Arjan De Zeeuw, Andy Webster, Leighton Baines, Gary Teale, (David Cotterill 33), Paul Scharner, Denny Landzaat, Kevin Kilbane, Emile Heskey, (Lee McCulloch 28), Henri Camara, (Andreas Johansson 88). Subs not used, John Filan, Matt Jackson

Goal scorer, Lee McCulloch 79 mins

Booked, Kevin Kilbane 50 mins, Denny Landzaat 90 mins

Referee, Mark Clattenburg (County Durham)

Attendance, 21,255