The Mr Hyde side of Wigan Athletic reared its head today as three points were there for the taking, only for the players to have a nightmare and not perform. A very fortunate goal for the Toon sealed the win that neither team deserved.

BARCLAYS PREMIER LEAGUE – DW STADIUM – Sunday 2nd January 2011
 

WIGAN ATHLETIC

0-1
NEWCASTLE UNITED
Shola Amiobe (19)

All Latics need to do to win this game was turn up and play half as decent as they did on Wednesday against Arsenal. But as has happened for too many games this season, we turn up for the big game and then disappoint against teams that we can easily outplay.

Optimism was high for this game; we were unbeaten in four and had just come off a draw with the team that had two days earlier annihilated the Champions. From the opening minutes of this game though, it was plain to see that we going to make it hard work.

The fluency, the tempo, the drive, the team spirit and the commitment had all but disappeared, we looked like a totally different side that played in midweek.

As it happened it took a massive stroke of luck for the visitors to actually score as Amiobe tapped into the empty net after 19 minutes. A great save from Ali was then cleared by Caldwell only for the ball to bounce back off the post to the feet of the Toon attacker.

We did have our chances though, Cleverley was the light in our darkness and he at times tore the Newcastle midfield to bits. Unfortunately Watson and Gomez seemed intent on demolishing anything that the loanee was trying to create.

The Manchester United ace did create two of the very few clear opportunities of the game, his first was smartly saved by Steve Harper in the visitors goal.

His second chance was one he will have nightmares about as he sent a volley over the Magpies bar when he would have certainly scored had he kept it down.

Gary Caldwell hit the bar with a header from one of Ben Watsons corners/free kicks that actually cleared the first man. The rebound was inexplicably scooped over the same crossbar from two yards when Hugo Rodallega had the goal at his mercy.

The second half was a complete blank where neither team really allowed any creativity, with Barton’s thuggery and Gutierrez falling on his arse at every opportunity, play was never going to flow.

The Gut somehow managed to get newly honoured Howard Webb to give him a free kick at every dive whilst Barton did have a scare, when he hacked down McArthur in the final ten minutes and was lucky to see just yellow.

A game we will want to forget very quickly and luckily we will as we take on our neighbours Bolton on Wednesday.

 

Cockney Latic Man of the Match: Tom Cleverley
Referee: Howard Webb (South Yorkshire)
Attendance: 15,277
LINE UP
WIGAN ATHLETIC NEWCASTLE UNITED
26 Ali Al Habsi 1 Steve Harper
3 Antolin Alcaraz 2 Fabricio Coloccini
5 Gary Caldwell 3 Jose Enrique
2 Steve Gohouri 27 Steven Taylor
23 Ronnie Stam 12 Danny Simpson
27 Mohamed Diame 7 Joey Barton
14 Jordi Gomez 4 Kevin Nolan
6 Hendry Thomas 24 Cheick Tiote
8 Ben Watson 18 Jonas Gutierrez
15 Tom Cleverley 23 Shola Ameobi
20 Hugo Rodallega 11 Peter Lovenkrands
SUBS
12 Mike Pollitt 26 Tim Krul
31 Maynor Figueroa 6 Mike Williamson
13 Steven Caldwell 14 James Perch
24 Adrian Lopez 17 Alan Smith
16 James McArthur 20 Leon Best
38 Callum McManaman 30 Nile Ranger
9 Mauro Boselli 10 Wayne Routledge
TIMELINE
9′     Yellow Card Danny Simpson
19′     Goal Shola Amiobe
30′ Yellow Card Ben watson    
45′ Yellow Card Gary Caldwell    
46′ Player Off Hendry Thomas
Player On James McArthur
   
59′ Player Off Jordi Gomez
Player On Mauro Boselli
   
70′     Player Off Peter Lovenkrands
Player On Wayne Routledge
77′     Player Off Shola Amiobe
Player On Leon Best
84′ Player Off Ronnie Stam
Player On Callum McManaman
   
86′     Player Off Kevin Nolan
Player On Alan Smith
88′     Yellow Card Joey Barton

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