Sport

Wigan still have some fight left in them

ENGLISH PREMIER LEAGUE: Bolton Wanderers 1 Wigan Athletic 1: DRIVING AWAY from this fixture three years ago, Steve Bruce wondered…

TIM RICH at Reebok Stadium
Thu Jan 06 2011 - 00:00

ENGLISH PREMIER LEAGUE: Bolton Wanderers 1 Wigan Athletic 1:DRIVING AWAY from this fixture three years ago, Steve Bruce wondered why he had taken the job of Wigan manager and thought his side would almost certainly be relegated.

Despite the 4-1 defeat in December 2007, Wigan survived largely through Bruce’s skill but it would be interesting to monitor Roberto Martinez’s thoughts.

Like Bruce he is discovering this is a club with considerable fight left in it. Wigan, short of players and badly missing the suspended Charles N’Zogbia had begun to look increasingly ragged when Ronnie Stam slid home a low cross from Steve Gohouri with barely 10 minutes remaining.

For Bolton this was an opportunity squandered in a match that never rose above the mediocre, although for the Wigan goalkeeper, Chris Kirkland, it was worse than that. Kirkland, standing in for Ali al-Habsi who was unable to play under the terms of his loan deal with Bolton, charged out of his goal to beat Johan Elmander to the ball, arrived feet first and was stretchered off.

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The raw fact on a rain-sodden night was that the only save of a wretched first half was made by the home goalkeeper, Jussi Jaaskelainen. That came from a Hugo Rodallega free-kick which Match of the Daywould call "a comfortable height for the keeper", but it was a save and by the standards of this contest that was something.

Then from Bolton came a touch of the new: a muscular run from Mark Davies, a telling pass to Rodrigo Moreno and a finish that betrayed his upbringing in the Real Madrid youth system that earned him a contract with Benfica. This was a lovely goal in an unlovely match.

  • Guardian Service

BOLTON:Jaaskelainen, Ricketts, Knight, Cahill, Robinson, Moreno (Petrov 83), Muamba, Mark Davies, Taylor (Blake 90), Kevin Davies, Elmander. Subs not used: Bogdan, Alonso.

WIGAN:Kirkland (Pollitt 62), Gohouri, Alcaraz, Gary Caldwell, Stam (McManaman 90), Figueroa, Thomas, Watson, Cleverley (Diame 12), McArthur, Rodallega. Subs not used: Gomez, Steven Caldwell, Lopez, Robinson. Booked: Figueroa, Gary Caldwell, Diame, Stam.

Referee:Phil Dowd (Staffordshire).