"Those moles are back again, Gaffer."

Frustration reigned at the DW Stadium for both the Latics and the Trotters as the sides played out a no-score draw in front of a decent Wednesday night crowd. The club’s promotions drew an above average attendance for this hard-fought Lancashire derby, which saw both teams create few chances and even fewer shots on goal.

The cynical may point to the badly worn DW Stadium pitch, ravaged by rampaging rugby men just five days earlier, as the primary reason for the lack of goalmouth action. Indeed, there’s no doubting that, at times, the pitch was a great hindrance, slowing the game down and causing miskicks aplenty for the likes of Zat Knight, Gary Caldwell and Titus Bramble. In fact, there wasn’t a single player who could say they really felt in control of the ball on the bobbly surface, and the almost inevitable long hoofs upfield were… surprisingly limited, actually.

For all Latics’ midfield dominance in the middle part of the game, they just couldn’t squeeze out the opportunities. Charles N’Zogbia hit Jussi Jaaskelainen’s crossbar on twenty minutes after rampaging down the Bolton left and getting a cross come shot to dip at just the right moment; Hugo Rodallega found himself through on goal with just minutes left of the first half, but a last-minute saving tackle denied him the chance of a cross to a waiting Marcelo Moreno.

The second half saw Hugo nod wide then blast an overhead kick way over the crossbar, but that was it in terms of chances for the Latics. Bolton had the better of the game in that department, especially in the game’s closing stages: Matty Taylor missed a couple of good, close-range chances that would have all but snatched the points.

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Anybody who’s checked the official Latics site in the last couple of days will probably be aware of a promotion by club sponsors 188BET. If you remember back to December before the fixture was rearranged due to adverse weather conditions, the hype surrounding this game was massive – a Monday night, last Prem game before Christmas, live on ESPN, promotions aplenty etc.

As much as the club has tried to emulate this by carrying over the Flag Day thing, they shouldn’t need to. After all, it’s Bolton, our closest rivals geographically and who knows, perhaps in the table as well by the end of this season – if we can’t get ourselves motivated for this game we never will.

I have to take my hat off to the club, however, in their continued merchandising and promotional efforts this season. Perhaps the most pleasing is their gesture of allowing supporters with half season tickets to attend tonight’s game as a virtual bonus fixture. See, this game was originally scheduled to take place on 21st December, before the half season tickets came into effect for the 26th.

All of this makes me wonder how Latics can continue to offer such great promotions when they’re probably losing money on the vast majority of them. Add to this the fact the two home FA Cup ties probably cost the club money to host, especially with the low gate receipts, almost to the point where it’s actually more financially beneficial to go out of the competition. Actually, there’s a conspiracy theory and a half for the Daily Mail readers out there.

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Edman has left the club on a free transfer

It was announced last week that Latics’ Swedish international left back Erik Edman had returned to Helsingborgs, the club where he made his name, having struggled to regain a place in Martinez’s first team after a spate of injuries.

It’ll be surprising to some that Edman made only nine league appearances in his two-year spell at Wigan, and that he was once a regular fixture in the Swedish international team. However, a short time after he joined the Latics, he sustained a serious knee injury that would keep him out for the remainder of the 2007/2008 season and also Euro 2008.

Unfortunately for Edman, he’ll be remembered by many as a member of the Wigan side that lost 9-1 to Tottenham in November. Since then, he has been on the fringes of the first team, on standby as replacement for Maynor Figueroa, and the club have allowed him to move to Helsingborgs on a free transfer to find first team football.

I prefer to remember Erik as the man who, up until his injury, so ably filled the void left by Leighton Baines. Though his appearances were limited, he impressed under Steve Bruce and were it not for an unfortunate challenge, I reckon we’d have had a long term stalwart that would have gone down in Latics lore as one of the best defenders we’ve had at the club.

Alas it was not to be, and with Figueroa now the man in possession of the left back berth, we bid Erik a fond farewell and wish him every success in the future. I really hope he goes on to bigger things, and the Tottenham game does not ruin his career because we’ve seen plenty of talent there, a sentiment echoed by the Swedish FA, who’ve called on him for international duty on 57 occasions.

For reasons that have been made all too prominent in the past week and a half, Wigan don’t have a game this weekend. Worry not, however, as it gives a chance for Jesus Was a Wiganer to take a breather in the form of more photos, this time from the Everton game last month.

On that day, I made up some rubbish about moles beneath the DW surface and how they’re set to blight our attempts to stay in the Premier League this season. By ‘moles’, I actually meant rugby matches, and last night Wigan Warriors played their first home game of the 2010 season.

We’ve had plenty of fun in seasons past with the ‘poor pitch’ excuse doled out from the likes of Arsene Wenger, Arsenal and… Arsene Wenger. Whilst we aren’t exactly going to be mudsliding down the banks of the River Dougie, I’ll hazard a guess Liverpool, Tottenham and (erm) Arsenal will have something to say, especially if we take points off them in forthcoming games at Robin Park.

Anyhow, I’m veering off subject now, so on to the pics.

There are actually more photos from this game, so you may see them in a future post.