A frustrating home draw for Birmingham boss Alex McLeish

Normally, you’d say a point away from home is a pretty good result. Not exceptional, but acceptable given the circumstances. This afternoon, I’m left considering missed opportunities rather than sitting here with my post-match Coke content with Latics’ afternoon’s work.

I will say that a draw was the fair result given the even nature of the game, but then those that turn draws into wins are the ones that stay in the Premier League. Wigan, just like their hosts, failed to make their opportunities count, but that doesn’t necessarily mean both teams will go down. In fact, from a quick glance at this afternoon’s results, exactly who will be in those bottom three places come May 2011 is anyone’s guess.

Despite the goalless scoreline, the match was far from your typical bore draw. There was plenty of open play to be had, and whilst there wasn’t a massive amount of shots on target, things often got exciting in the centre of the park.

Latics looked bright throughout, Charles N’Zogbia (who was roundly booed by the St Andrew’s faithful, and quite rightly too) the centrepoint of most of Latics’ first half forays into opposition territory. Mo Diame also made some early running, powering through the Birmingham half on more than one occasion.

It was the hosts who came closest in the first 45, however, as Cameron Jerome found the ball at his feet just metres from goal following a spilled Al-Habsi catch. Luckily for the Omani, he somehow managed to get in the way of it, and Wigan entered the break with their clean sheet intact. It was to be the final act of the first half, a period in which (once again) Latics had good spells of possession but failed to convert it to actual opportunities.

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Jordi Gomez: A flash of inspiration brought Latics back into things

In many ways, this was not your typical Lancastrian Carling Cup derby. For one thing, Latics’ style of play is anything but Northern.

In fact, you’d be hard pressed to find an Englishman amongst their starting line-up from last night’s tie with close rivals Preston North End. With Chris Kirkland currently out of favour and Victor Moses sat firmly on the bench, Ben Watson was the only Wigan man born of this country to grace the pitch at kick off last night. And he’s a Southerner.

There was, however, the unmistakable whiff of cup tie floating around the Dee Dubya on this relatively humid September evening. Though the Lilywhites brought a decent amount of troops south of the Greater Manchester border, the total attendance literally reeked of a Wednesday night non-Premier League game. Perhaps the utter dejection of last season’s defeat at the hands of League Two Notts County is still fresh in many Latics fans’ minds. Still, for ten quid, you’d think it may just be worth a punt.

Doubtless some present in the East and West stands would have had second thoughts about their attendance when Keith ‘Don’t Call Me Dick’ Treacy put the visitors ahead with a pleasant free-kick on 23 minutes. There was no repeat of the ticket ripping and replica shirt throwing exploits of this time last season, at least not yet, but many (including myself) feared the worst.

As the minutes ticked by without a Latics shot on target, this agitation grew, gradually turning to resignation as the 87th minute arrived. Well, it wouldn’t have been a surprise had Latics crashed out last night, even if the starting lineup was fairly close to full-strength. It would have been some consolation that, with the above average number of big name clubs crashing out at the second hurdle, Latics’ result would surely have been buried under column inches dedicated to Northampton’s victory over Liverpool.

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Gareth Barry steered his team to a comfortable away win

Right, this afternoon wasn’t pretty so I’ll spare you too many gory details. All you need to know is that Wigan lost. This was partially down to the fact their presence in the opposition half was, shall we say, less than adequate, at least if you see scoring goals as your primary target in a football match.

The home side weren’t completely outplayed, though they could have been had City found their straps earlier. In the end it was a case of ‘get in there, do the job and get out’ as they looked to play out the final minutes following their second goal. I guess we can be thankful for that, but Wigan once again lacked any potency. Sound familiar? Well, it should.

Latics’ only shot on target in the first half came on 29 minutes, and if you consider that was the first time either team had challenged the opposition goalie, you get a fair picture of how the first half an hour went.

A cautious Man City were the better team for 15 minutes, but Wigan came back into things, earning themselves a fair slice of possession. Still no end product, however, and once again we were made to pay. On 43 minutes, a Joe Hart goal kick sliced off the back of a defender’s head and into the path of Carlos Tevez. It could hardly have fallen better for the Argentinian, who duly chipped Ali Al-Habsi to give City the lead going into the break.

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I go on hiatus for a week and on my return find my comment queue filled with spam, each and every message containing absolutely nothing to do with football. Well, I suppose that’s what you get for not posting in… however many days it’s been.

Latics were also back in action this afternoon. Not that I was in any position to attend, for which I have Heritage Open Days to thank. You won’t hear me complaining (well, not much anyway), but it is a bit awkward that the thing clashed with this afternoon’s encounter with the Black Cats at the DW. Must be why they held the Wigan events at Leigh Civic Square.

Whatever the case, I was limited to just a second half WISH FM commentary of the match, which I count myself lucky to have heard at the very least. For this very reason, my post-match thoughts won’t be too comprehensive since all I have to go on are the biased opinions of Messrs Lovett and Rimmer. Yep, he of Neil Rimmer’s Perm Fame.

From what I can gather, the afternoon wasn’t a complete disaster. After our previous result, it was good to follow up and actually consolidate, to use an oft-quoted term. By which I mean I’m glad we didn’t lose, even though you’d have thought a win might be up for grabs after ex-Ticsmon Lee Cattermole’s sending off relatively early in the piece.

We’re still waiting for the two Prem wins on the bounce under Bob, though. Our own Spanish Supremo went with the same side that somehow stole all three points at White Hart Lane two weeks ago with new boys Di Santo and Cleverley taking a seat on the bench at the DW (which is actually more like a series of plush car seats).

Al-Habsi retained his place in the Latics goal even though reports suggest Kirkland was fit enough to return to the fold. Then again, with Kirky, you never know what sorts of little niggles and knocks he might have picked up on the car journey to the game. Notwithstanding this, I (and indeed most) would say Bob had to go with the Omani on recent form.

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