Instrumental at the back: Gary Caldwell had a big hand in Wigan's second goal

Before yesterday evening, Latics’ record stood at nineteen points from eighteen games. I’d speculate that given the strength of the lower half of the league, a point a game wouldn’t be enough to see us through to 2011–12, but a little bit more than that may well be. A similar run of results in the second half of the season will see us finish up on 40 points, which should be enough, I’d say.

But certain critics have already written us off, perhaps most notably El Tel, who reckons we’ll finish rock bottom due in part to Martinez’s inexperience at this level but also some of the right turkeys (somewhat apt considering the current time of year) he’s signed. Which you have to admit to, but this year’s campaign is far from over, and I wouldn’t exactly say we’re ‘doomed’ only half way through the season. We may be struggling in and around the relegation places right now, but I’d challenge you to find anyone with any sort of intelligence who realistically thought we wouldn’t.

Well, maybe that’s a bit unfair. Had Di Santo and Boselli been half the goalscoring demons they were played up to be, we would sit mid-table right now. Not exactly comfortable, but in a slightly better position than we are at the moment. A win over Blackpool on the opening day of the season plus an extra win somewhere else along the line and we’d be talking about Europe, even.

If the season were played out on home form alone, we wouldn’t be doing that great in comparison to every other team in the league. That said, the familiarity of our home patch seems to instil a certain amount of confidence, something pleasingly evident in the opening stages last night.

From the word go, Latics seemed up for the challenge, Charles N’Zogbia immediately whizzing one across the face of the 6-yard area. Nobody was there to meet it, however, something of a familiar sight this season. Just a minute later, Tom Cleverley put in a fantastic ball which Rodallega missed by mere inches; had he made contact with head rather than shoulder I’m sure it would have been 1–0.

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Ronnie Stam (left) and Tom Cleverley (right) get in the Boxing Day spirit on a trip to Wolverhampton Zoo

It’s all change at the foot of the table thanks to a highly important afternoon of fixtures in the Premier League. Earlier today, West Ham chalked up an away win at Fulham, a feat which Wigan Athletic (thankfully) managed to emulate in their 3pm kickoff at Molineux to haul themselves out of the relegation zone. Our opponents, who we’ve now done the double over for 2010–11, sit bottom below both Latics and the Hammers whilst Fulham slip to 18th.

Wolves can console themselves, however, in the fact I can tell you with some certainty these aren’t going to be the final placings, with plenty of teams still in the reckoning and others dropping like a stone towards the snake pit of relegation (Blackburn and West Brom being prime candidates at this point in time). Oh yeah, despite what some might claim, this season isn’t going to be settled at Christmas but this period of tightly-packed fixtures will go a long way to decide who’ll be stumbling through the first part of next year like a drunken old relative on Christmas Day.

In some ways, you could describe Wolverhampton’s defending as such, especially in those first 20 minutes which would ultimately decide this game’s outcome. First Hugo Rodallega then Tom Cleverley would finish expertly on 10 and 20 minutes respectively to give the visitors a fantastic start and a vital cushion. However, you sensed it wasn’t going to be enough — we would have to score again. Luckily for Wigan, this wasn’t to be the case as even though the hosts pulled one back late on, they didn’t look a great threat in front of goal.

Wolves ought to have had a penalty on the half hour mark when Steve Gohouri seemed to upend Steven Ward but the decision was not forthcoming from Mike Dean. Combine this with a few fantastic saves from Latics keeper Al-Habsi and you’d say the ball wasn’t really rolling for Mick McCarthy’s men. The Omani, on the other hand, seems to have struck a rich seam of fortune of late what with his equally skilful and miraculous clean sheet at Everton two weeks ago to add to his collection of stops today.

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So close: Ronnie Stam could have stolen it in the dying embers

Wigan came away from Liverpool this afternoon with a point, something I doubt even the most optimistic of Latics fans could fail to be happy with. Forget Miracle on 34th Street, this was a case of Miracle on Goodison Road. Well, perhaps that’s a bit extreme but the gods were undeniably in the visitors’ favour on this surprisingly mild afternoon. Which actually makes some sense, considering Jesus was a Wiganer (groan).

For the first portion of the game, Latics were sprightly and, whilst not creating any real chances, posed a real threat in the opposition third. N’Zogbia and Cleverley in particular –the latter of which put in his share of hard yards at both ends of the field all afternoon until his substitution at half time– had the better of numerous opposition players in those first twenty minutes or so.

From then until the interval it was all Everton as Latics’ passing game began to fall apart and descend into hit and hope football with Charlie and Rodders the target men. Nothing wrong with that, you might say; certain managers, some even in the Prem, make quite a good living from it. It wasn’t working for Latics, though, as even when Hugo managed to gain some control he didn’t really have anyone to lay the ball off to.

Things were becoming increasingly ominous, and half time couldn’t come quickly enough for Wigan. Fellaini had just whizzed the ball across the face of the goal, less than a foot away from an advancing Cahill at the back post. On top of that, the home side were firing at Wigan like a constantly reloaded gun – each and every clearance failed to find a fellow Latic as we found ourselves well and truly pinned in.

The half time whistle came with Everton well on top but Wigan still on level terms and, though a bit shaky, yet to concede more than one shot on target. Going into the break, the stats showed just the one for each team, though this was somewhat surprising. Perhaps it’s fallout from last week’s relative goal fest at the DW.

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Rory Delap: Beware the long throws of doom!

If ever the word ‘splurge’ could be applied to a football match, then the first half of this particular Premier League encounter was certainly that. Though four goals were scored, only one of them was a ‘proper’ strike; the other three came via deflections, and some fortuitous ones at that.

As is usual at the DW Stadium, Latics dominated possession but unlike normally, some actual attacking play was there to back it up. Had Antolin Alcaraz and Hendry Thomas managed to hit the target with the goal in their wake, we could have headed into the interval 3–2 to the good, and you probably wouldn’t have begrudged us that.

Stoke went ahead on 18 minutes thanks to a long-range free kick from Robert Huth. It wasn’t exactly spectacular, but chalked up the first strike of a half littered with goals, and set the precedent for deflected opportunities finding their way into the net. The German’s shot would take a considerable touch off the wall to leave Al Habsi floundering, unable to do a thing as the ball trickled over his goal line.

After some spirited pressure play from the Latics, which involved two good deliveries from Ben Watson, you felt a goal was on the way. Indeed, it was third time lucky as the aforementioned ex-Palace midfielder saw his ball fly past Asmir Begovic via the boot of Danny Collins for a deserved equaliser. At this stage, it seemed you just had to put the ball in the right area and it would somehow find its way over the goal line.

There was nothing fortunate about Stoke’s next goal, which caught Latics on the hop somewhat. After some good work by Kenwyne Jones on the right wing, Fuller held up the ball just inside the area and crossed for an advancing Etherington to score easily at the back post. Wigan were on level terms for less than two minutes.

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