Wigan were 7 games unbeaten whilst we were 6 games without a win, that just adding to everything else on a fantastic day of football at the JJB Stadium - well, for neutrals. After five or so years, the JJB Stadium still has to be the worst ground to get to. All around it is grid locked from 2:00pm onwards. A joke.
The team only had one change to the team that drew with Derby, Ben Rix was replaced by the king battler Justin Cochrane…
Ince
B.Jones - Foster - Walker - Wright
Lunt - Sorvel - Cochrane - Hignett
Ashton - Jones
The Alex took a good 800 or so fans and witnessed much of the same from Wednesday night, in the first 15 minutes. Few chances with Wigan the better team, by far. Jason Jarrett’s shot was one of few in the first 15 minutes but that flew narrowly over. The Wigan strikers were offering a threat for them without creating anything. McCulloch and Ellington were being a handful for Foster and Walker.
Something was for certain, though, Wigan were… what would you call it, Physical? On the other hand, maybe they just forgot they are the football side, the rugby is on Fridays. Still, when we showed glimpses of our real skill we cut through them like butter. Hignett on the half way line, sweetly knocked up to Jones, to Ashton, Ashton then had his feet taken from under him but Hignett picked up the ball sent it to Jones who ran into the right side of the penalty area where his shot just trickled past the post.
Ashton went off for treatment and when he came on the game finally spiced up, well it wouldn’t be a game against Wigan otherwise. Ashton had the better of the Wigan defence and got behind them down the right side of the penalty area. Ashton was just about to take it round Ian Breckin until…. Smack… Breckin went straight through Ashton and the ref had no hesitation in giving the pen.
Having missed his last penalty, against Sheff Utd, there was a feeling of doubt in the away end as Filan moan with Breckin about the decision - always gets me, when has a referee ever changed his decision through what the players say?
Anyway, Deano stepped up and tapped it to the opposite side of ‘keeper John Filan, into the right corner the ball went. Easy.
Well, of course we weren’t going to keep this lead so Wigan helped us out. On our next attack, Stevie Jones had Jason De Vos so dizzy that he De Vos had to grab Jonah round the neck inside the penalty area. Just a coincidence Jones was about to run free on goal. The referee, probably paid to or given free JJB vouchers, waved away appeals but the linesman had his flag up. The ref told Wigan players warming up to piss off and stop trying to cheat by talking the linesman out of it, told De Vos to piss off because players never talk referee’s out of decisions.
After a couple of minutes of booing from the kiddie kop to the Alex fans right and a load of fat people heckling the ref in the stand to our right, the referee pulled out a red and ordered De Vos off the field and pointed to the spot. Ashton held the ball to his chest as Hignett and Lunt both tried talk him out of taking the penalty - but he was having none of it.
He stepped up once again and tapped it to Filan’s left this time. 2-0. Ahhh, we surely couldn’t lose a 0-2 cushion against 10 men…. Ha.
Wigan were, like Watford and Sheffield United, lifted by the sending off. They bombarded the goal and got one within 4 minutes. A series of cock-ups from Richard Walker helped them though. Walker was first skinned inside the area by McCulloch, who soon was held up by Foster, Walker then went in for the tackle but the ball bounced off McCulloch then off Walker breaking free for McCulloch to fire home. Well, only 1-2... We thought.
We looked a bit more promising for a few minutes afterwards. Good build up play on the edge of the area was ruined when Lunt, with a clear sight on goal, totally scuffed his volley. So the equaliser from Wigan, you could say, was against the run of play. Ellington broke down the wing and with Billy Jones too far forward; it left Walker to struggle to keep up with the pacey striker, it led to Walker fouling him on the left wing in line with the penalty area.
The free kick was taken and flew into a scramble of players, Clayton Ince went for it but McCulloch poked his head out of the crowd and nodded it into the back of the net. The kiddie kop went crazy…
“We’ve only got 10 men” The stand at the other end sang. How stupid they must feel now. 10 men, but only two goals.
So we sat, subdued. Out played by 10 men and not for the first time this season. Wigan were dirty dirty players. Charging into players without a care in the world. Fatboy slim was the worst though. Filan, I mean, picking on Stevie Jones. Steve Jones offside, again…….., didn’t hear the whistle and went in for a tackle. Filan didn’t like this and came charging 25 yards like a knight in shining armour to smash into Steve Jones.
Filan was expecting and wanted a big mêlée but we are not thugs, so Jonah gave him a dirty look and walked away. Filan had egg on his face, with no reaction from Crewe and his own players wondering what the fuck he was doing, he was booked - not without the moan. Ofcourse.
In first half stoppage time, Lee McCulloch’s free header from a corner went sailing into the kiddie kop. Oh, and David Wright went off with a calf or shin injury in the 10th minute, Tonkin replaced him. Just something I forgot.
Second Half
At half time we witnessed yet another club insisting on having out of time part time disco dancers on the pitch dancing to some pop. Then a load of little girls shivering in the freezing cold as Wigan hope to ‘look good’ as the teams come out to a mini cheerleading dance… don’t forget the pom-poms. Will clubs please stop insisting in going all Americanised… it is not big and it is not clever.
The second half was much more calmer compared to the first half. We came into the game a tad more, with Hignett looking brighter. Nevertheless, on comparison Wigan were still ‘dominating’.
I wouldn’t say they threatened the goal at all. They looked threatening with Ellington but no clear-cut chances ever went Wigan’s way. Alan Mahon tried a hip height curler from 25 yards but with Ince firmly behind it.
The Wigan crowed were really urging their players on with roars on every decision from the referee. It was Alan Mahon who had them going with his runs down the left. They also loved the off-form Anthony Tonkin who fucked up at every opportunity.
Meanwhile, Craig Hignett had chance of the match on the hour mark. Ashton flicked the ball into the penalty area, the high ball fell to Higgy but his header just went over. Higgy certainly should have done better with the chance. He was having a decent game though. He was spraying balls across field to Lunt and Billy. Certainly one of his better spells in his patchy loan.
With 15-10 minutes to go I was certainly taking the draw. Once again, we looked poor in terms of passing and tackling in the midfield - we only have one line of defence, the midfield is poor at helping out. Fans were starting to leave and one notable point was Dean Ashton taking some stick whilst a Wigan player received treatment in front of the Alex fans.
Deano took the ‘blocking’ well, or just laughed in the ‘fans’ face. There was something though that told you Dean was all fired up to get the winning goal now. And he did. Wigan seemed to lose interest in the final 5 minutes and allowed us to pressure.
The time ticked down into the 3 minutes added on time and whilst we weren’t panicking, we made one last assault on the goal. Lunt played it through to Ashton who took the ball into the left side of the penalty area before sweetly hitting it with his left foot on the volley, from a tight angle, into the back of the net. A win for the Alex and a first league hat-trick for Deano.
It was a superb goal and one that Alex fans seemed to take a while to register.
A first win in 6 games was a weight off the players shoulders as they were clapped off by Alex fans, bitter Wigan fans booed.
A much needed win and hopefully back on track. With West Brom on Saturday, in front of Sky cameras, confidence will hopefully be on full flow. We’re still missing the confidence and also the performance, yep we won but the performance was poor.
There’s more to come from this team. Two more wins and we’re safe… I sense unease at West Brom; lets unsettle them from the off like we did against Sunderland on that fine summers day…
Player ratings…
Ince - 7 - Excellent kicking, even under pressure. Could have done better on the 2nd goal. Otherwise not much else to do.
Wright - 6 - Good for all 10 minutes. Calf strain?
Foster - 8 - Defensive wise fantastic, top class. Distribution was way off.
Richard Walker - 6 - At fault for both goals. After a good game on Wednesday was off the pace today.
Billy Jones - 7 - Average performance from the youngster. No complaints though.
Craig Hignett - 7 - In and out of the game, but when he was in it he was inspirational.
Kenny Lunt - 6 - Hit a bad patch. Another poor, lacklustre display from Kenny.
Justin Cochrane - 8 - Rest did him good. Battled to the whistle, tried to unsettle them as he always does. Seemed to be limping towards the end, or is that just me?
Neil Sorvel - 6 - Some good passes but most of them seem to magnetize towards Ince. Strange.
Dean Ashton - 8 - Only a 8 for his goals. Otherwise looked abit off the game today. Lost the ball too easily and didn't seem to want it as much as he has done recently.
Steve Jones - 7 - Very lethargic. A week or two rest would do him the world of good.
Subs...
Tonkin - 6 - Embarrassing. I've put my faith in him though and I still think he'll turn out a great player in a year or two, just hope he proves me right like Deano has done.