Latics gelled well to play Chelsea off the park, Scharner rounded off the rout in the last minute as Bramble and a Rodallega penalty sank the blues.

BARCLAYS PREMIER LEAGUE – DW STADIUM – Saturday 26th September 2009

WIGAN ATHLETIC
Bramble 16
Rodallega 53 (pen)
Scharner 90

3-1
CHELSEA
Drogba 47

Latics could have been 3-0 up by half time but for great defending and a hell of a lot of luck on Chelsea’s side, but in the end it was a good performance and a very well deserved victory for Latics who didn’t really need to get out of second gear.

I can see the ‘media’ match reports now twisting how Chelsea were unlucky or under par or put in a really bad performance or whatever else they want to spin to try to justify that one of the big four darlings just weren’t good enough to play against a team that is still learning it’s way with their new manager.

Chelsea might not have played as well as they could do, but again I say that this because we played them off the park, never gave them time on the ball and ultimately deserved the 3-1 scoreline, in fact the score flattered the Blues.

The game opened up with Latics taking it straight to the Premier League leaders but didn’t get their own way as Chelsea tried to turn the screw like they had done in the previous six games. But Latics soon got over being put on the back foot for the initials ten minutes and then got a grip on the game.

N’Zogbia was the first to get a telling shot off which drew a good save from Cech and our first corner. The corner was taken short to N’Zogbia who put in a pin point cross for Bramble to plant a header into the bottom corner. The not so loud Chelsea fans were even quieter now and as the half went on they saw their team out played out muscled and out thought, they were very lucky not to go in 3 or 4 nil down.

Chelsea tried the tatctic of trying to roughen Latics up but it was to no avail as we cleanly swept our opponents away, Scharner was unlucky not to double the lead when only a fine save from Cech again stopped hie rasping shot.

The Austrian was relishing his midfield role (in place of Gomez) as he again shaved the crossbar with another shot before setting up Scotland, only for the strikers shot to go high over the bar. Scharner had probably the best chance of the game on 40 minutes, but as he was about to pull the trigger he slipped and the ball went harmlessly out of play.

The half was rounded off by a wild free kick after the very impressive Hendry Thomas was hacked down.

The second half didn’t start off too promising as a massive mistake by Kirkland gave Chelsea an equaliser barely 2 minutes in, but the team reacted well and started piling on the pressure again. The pressure paid off just 5 minutes later as Rodallega was fed the perfect pass but for Cech to floor him as he was about to put the ball into the empty goal.

Cech was sent off for bring the last man and Rodallega duly dispatched the penalty past Hillario the Sub Blues keeper. The half went on with Latics piling pressure on, but shots from Hendry, Scharner, Rodallega and Scotland weren’t testing the ten man Chelsea team, on the flip side the Blues didn’t really get any more chances to draw level either.

It was just a matter of time before we broke through again and it was the workhorse (did I really just say that) Scharner who wrapped it up in the last minutes, tapping in a Figueroa cross that would probably have gone in anyway.

All in all it was exactly what the moaners have been asking for, but let’s see if they can find anything to whinge about from that performance. Martinez at last has realised that Gomez isn’t up for the fight yet and until he is let’s see more of the same please.

Report by Jayt

Cockney Latic Man of the Match: Mohamed Diame

Referee: Phil Dowd (Staffordshire)
Attendance: 18,582
LINE UP
WIGAN ATHLETIC CHELSEA
1 Chris Kirkland 1 Petr Cech
25 Mario Melchiot 26 John Terry
17 Emmerson Boyce 3 Ashley Cole
19 Titus Bramble 17 Jose Bosingwa
31 Maynor Figueroa 6 Ricardo Carvalho
27 Mohamed Diame 8 Frank Lampard
14 Charles N’Zogbia 5 Michael Essien
7 Paul Scharner 12

Mikel John Obi

9 Jason Scotland 15 Florent Malouda
6 Hendry Thomas 39 Nicolas Anelka
20 Hugo Rodallega 11 Didier Drogba
SUBS
12 Mike Pollitt 30 Henrique Hilario
4 Antonio Amaya 19 Paulo Ferreira
15 Jordi Gomez 2 Branislav Ivanovic
5 Cho Won-Hee 35 Juliano Belletti
10 Jason Koumas 18 Yuri Zhirkov
18 Daniel de Ridder 21 Salomon Kalou
30 Marlon King 45 Fabio Borini
TIMELINE
16′ Goal Titus bramble
27′ Yellow Card Hendry Thomas
46′ Player Off John Mikel
Player On Juliano Belletti
47′ Goal Didier Drogba
51′ Red Card Petr Cech
52′ Player Off Florent Malouda
Player On Henrique Hilario
53′ Goal Hugo Rodallega (pen)
68′ Player Off Jose Bosingwa
Player On Salomon Kalou
70′ Yellow Card Ricardo Carvalho
87′ Yellow Card Michael essien
88′ Player Off Jason Scotland
Player On Marlon King
90′ Goal Paul Scharner