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)
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)
Labels: Watford vrs Wigan (Abandoned)
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