Emmerson Boyce helped his team to a clean sheet

With the Premier League (quite obviously) a massive priority, Latics made eight changes to the starting lineup for this ‘big’ local derby (as the Wigan Evening Post termed it), and they don’t come much bigger than Bolton. Well, maybe Preston. Or any of the Manchester Clubs. In terms of match practice, anyway, today’s game was a useful opportunity to blood some youngsters and new boys.

Most notably, Callum McManaman assumed the centre forward position, reprising his role from the Third Round tie at Hull. Diame, too, returned in the centre of midfield, as did James McArthur, who this week hit the headlines for all the wrong reasons. You could say he was lucky not to hit anything else, but that would be somewhat irrelevant to today’s tie. McCarthy, Rodallega, N’Zogbia and a whole host of others were rested for the even bigger game against West Brom at the Hawthorns on Tuesday evening.

Wigan were slow to get off the mark and came under immediate pressure, Johan Elmander putting the ball over the bar via a Gary Caldwell –returning after a one-match ban– block after just ten seconds of the game. Very soon after, Victor Moses, also back in the side after a lengthy injury layoff, found himself through with a superb chance but only succeeded in finding the side netting. Bit of a dodgy moment for the Trotters, but a slightly rusty Moses was always going to struggle to put the ball in from such a narrow angle.

The visitors were looking a bit nervy, especially Adrian Lopez, facing Premier League opposition for the first time. But things settled down at the back as Victor Moses set about looking to make inroads, creating a couple of good chances and squeezing out the odd corner. In a good spell of pressure from Latics, Momo Diame won his side a free kick just yards from the Bolton area, the resulting Jordi Gomez shot easily saved by Jaaskelainen. Just seconds later, McManaman found himself with a superb chance created by Moses, but a fantastic last-ditch Robinson block thwarted his efforts to keep the score at 0-0.

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Waiting for the Messiah: No Moses comeback just yet for Whelan

So there we were, one whole month later than originally planned, on a Tuesday evening at the DW. One thing remained the same, however – this was a significant game in Latics’ season. Villa, now with a £24m(?!) Darren Bent on board, found themselves mixing it with us at the foot of the table, but for how long? On the evidence of their most recent performance against Man City, I’d say not very.

The pundits, though praising of Martinez’s ethics, continue to back us for the drop for that very same reason. A sometimes painful insistence on sticking with the 4-5-1 midfield passing game has won Bob as many fans as it’s lost him – a fact evidenced in falling attendances at the DW in the last two years. It’s clear the public are happy to see us hoof the ball up the park every time we get it, Titus Bramble style, if it means Wigan Athletic remain in England’s top division for another year.

For my own part, I’d settle for a happy medium if the results were there to back up our Arsenal-inspired formations. The wins have been hard to come by all season long, and we haven’t seen back-to-back victories since, well, ever. Do you play to win points or friends? Friendly guys rarely succeed. A dilemma indeed, at least for Martinez. On the whole, I couldn’t give a monkey’s unripe banana if we played 11 men up front as long as it meant we got the points.

On the face of it, money and tactics seem so unrelated, but dig a bit deeper and it’s obvious. Steve Bruce, love or hate some of his strategies, guided us to a respectable mid-table finish and signed some of our best players of the last ten years, perhaps even ever. I’m well aware we live in far more austere times, with even Manchester United having to tighten the purse strings of late – I know, who’d have thought it?

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Gary Caldwell: Simultaneously both hero and villain

Considering some of the cracking football played by our hosts of late, it won’t come as a surprise that I was expecting a major damage limitation exercise this afternoon, a prediction that would (inevitably?) prove a reality.

In the first half, a relatively out-of-form Latics really struggled against the quality of Fabregas, van Persie et al, to the point they had eleven fewer shots on target than their hosts in the first period. In fact, that number amounted to the grand total of one, and it was something of a  miracle that Latics went into the break only a goal down. We have Al Habsi and the Caldwell brothers –playing together in a league game for Wigan for the first time– to thank for that, plus an odd decision or two  in front of goal from Walcott, who, when one-on-one with the keeper, decided to pass when it looked easier to score. Not that we were complaining, oooh no.

If it weren’t for the Omani’s six or seven (eight?) saves, this would have been excruciating stuff to watch. As it was, things were still pretty painful, and perhaps most cutting of all was van Persie’s 21st minute goal. The Dutchman finished sublimely after timing his run to perfection, beating both Caldwells and stealing in for a much deserved lead.

Surprisingly, that would be it for goals in the first 45. Fabregas and the aforementioned Walcott both had excellent chances, but somehow bits of British and Omani defiance (now there’s an alliance if ever I saw one) conspired to keep everything out by hook, crook, luck and pluck. Often it was a case of fortune rather than good judgement, but the fact remained we were only 1-0 down. Arsene Wenger didn’t seem pleased anyway.

Latics came out for the second half vastly rejigged. A more flexible 4-4-2 style formation, quite like the one we reverted to in the second half against Fulham, saw James McArthur and Franco Di Santo introduced to the piece, and boy did it have an effect on our attacking play. Well, it wasn’t out of this world or even good enough to score, but it sure was an improvement on what we’d seen previously.

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It was nice to actually be able to get to a game for a change, to sample the (very tense) atmosphere of the DW once more after a string of working Saturdays. The old camera, complete with new batteries, was brought out once more for some pre-game snaps from a decent viewpoint in the East Stand.