Up until today, I never had the opportunity to sample the delights of the Robin Park Sports Arena. Quite surprising really, considering it’s been there for ten years (?) and I walk past it every other weekend on the way to the DW. From a distance, you could get the impression it’s somewhat inhospitable, a pokey little shed in the back garden of the aforementioned Temple of Wigan Football (as nobody ever calls it).

Not a bit of it. Though some of the seats are starting to look a bit cracked and dated, which is to be expected from the years of use and abuse it’s no doubt been subjected to, it’s not a bad little stadium really. At £4.20 for a reserve tie, you can’t grumble too much.

Well, I did emphasise too in the previous sentence for a reason as there were no really big names like Jimmy Bullard on show here, but for me it was a chance to see the second string Latics squad in action for the first time this season. A helpful printout, provided for free in the reception area, informs me that Latics haven’t been too hot on the reserve circuit this campaign, limited to a paltry win and a draw from our first six league games.

This, however, was a Lancashire Senior Cup match, a potentially tough tie against a Rochdale side fresh from a 3-2 defeat of Carlisle and boasting an unbeaten record in this league campaign. Granted, these performances were against teams a couple of leagues below our level, but you can’t begrudge them their excellent start to 2009/10.

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