Franco Di Santo (above) teamed up with James McArthur to pinch the points for Latics

Franco Di Santo and James McArthur were the heroes as Latics rode their luck, spied their chances and stole all three points in the dying minutes of what transpired to be an open contest at the Stadium of Light. Earlier, Victor Moses and Conor Sammon had been the driving force behind an improved second-half performance which built upon Jordi Gomez’s 44th minute equalising penalty.

Martinez kept faith in the same starting XI that oh-so-nearly orchestrated a win at the DW last week, with James McCarthy retaining his place after talk of a minor leg injury. Hugo Rodallega and Ben Watson would once again have to satisfy themselves with a place on the bench as Roberto’s new-look side set out to continue their unbeaten run (admittedly, of one game).

One goal apiece represented a decent half time return for what was, in essence, a Sunderland steamroller job. The only lacking aspect was that (Latics-esque?) finishing touch as chance after wonderful chance was carried away on the brisk afternoon breeze and sailed down the Tyne into a sea of lost hope. Or, as it is more commonly known, the North Sea.

Some characteristically iffy Latics defending helped the home side’s cause, but the Black Cats’ nine attempts on target yielded just the one goal – and that was chiefly due to a mistake from Ali Al Habsi. Kieran Richardson’s strike bounced just in front of the Omani, who could not cling on to the slippery ball. Sebastian Larsson was quickest to react, though to be fair there were two more Sunderland men waiting to pounce had the Swede failed to make up the ground. Hey, it wouldn’t be a Latics match without an early goal against, would it?

Hard to believe that Wigan actually made the immediate running. Victor Moses could not prevent his long-range shot from being deflected horribly wide, while Jordi Gomez also directed a firm strike right at Keirin Westwood. However, from then until the half hour mark it was all Sunderland, who engulfed the away penalty area like flies around a discarded half-consumed Ribena carton (it’ll make more sense a bit later on).

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Latics missed yet another golden opportunity –perhaps their best yet– to reignite their ailing season thanks to a mixture of poor defending and even worse officiating at the DW Stadium. For a neutral it was compelling, but for the ones really watching the game, namely fans of the two teams concerned, it was simply excruciating stuff.

In an attempt to galvanise the side, Martinez made five changes to the starting XI that lost to Wolves two weeks ago, perhaps the most notable being Rodallega’s relegation to the bench. Conor Sammon was the direct replacement, while fit-again James McCarthy and Jordi Gomez returned to the midfield. At the back, Steve Gohouri filled the gap left by the banned Alcaraz and Gary Caldwell was reinstated following his own one-match suspension. Stam was drafted in for Boyce and Watson given a stint on the sidelines as a new-look Latics side took to the pitch in search of the club’s first point(s) in two and a half months.

Wigan really went for it in the first half, once again dominating proceedings and, for the first time in a long while, took a lead into the break. The half didn’t start well, however, with Yakubu scoring within two minutes to put the home side on the back foot from the off. Of course, it wouldn’t be a Latics game without a sloppily conceded goal, would it? Ali Al Habsi got a hand to the Nigerian’s strike, which subsequently sailed beyond two scrambling defenders to give Rovers the lead.

The home side were almost handed a chance to get a foothold mere minutes later as the threatening Victor Moses was felled in the area for what looked like a clear-cut penalty. The referee waved it away, and you got the feeling this would be another one of those days.

To Wigan’s credit, they fought back fast. Blackburn’s joy was short lived, as Jordi Gomez soon had Latics back on level terms with a somewhat fortunate mid-range strike on 7 minutes. Rovers keeper Robinson was unsighted as a loitering Conor Sammon blocked his view and the Spaniard’s strike found its way into the net, much to the delight of the home faithful. It must also be noted that Mr Sammon was offside at the time, and you might say Latics were lucky not to have been pulled up for this. However, this team of officials, as we would discover as the game continued, would not be out of place on a Sunday League pitch, so I’m inclined to say it was more a case of incompetence chiefly on behalf of the whistleblower.

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In the spotlight once again: Roberto Martinez

Last time on Jesus Was a Wiganer: this viewer was left in fear of Roberto Martinez’s future at Wigan Athletic following a ninth straight defeat in all competitions. Rumours had started to spread about the Spanish supremo, who was supposedly ‘set to walk out’ based on highly cryptic, Enigma-style clues tucked away in interviews with Dave Whelan.

It was all codswallop, of course. Expert crossword compilers and Mensa quiz book writers have confirmed there was no solid evidence beyond the recent extended run of bad results –which I take no delight in reminding you is now nearing three solid months in length– and the collective will of many a pessimistic Wigan Athletic fan.

You can, however, feel the seam beginning to come apart. I’m not sure if there’ll be as much confidence in Bob’s Latics prospects come Saturday evening, but we shall leave such speculation for, well, tomorrow evening. Continuing with the (tenuous) cricket analogy, we’ll be hoping to put off that mandatory ‘ball change’ for some time, but it all depends on how many wickets we take against Blackburn.

Moving on to strictly footballing matters, I won’t try to second guess Roberto’s choice of starting lineup, merely suggest a potential XI which could help facilitate an end to this results drought. But hey, I ain’t the big boss with authority to make such assumptions reality, so take it all with a pinch of salt; my recent pre-match predictions for how Roberto will configure the Wigan starting XI have been less than accurate, sometimes to the point of being potentially libellous.

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Hugo Rodallega can't score for toffee right now.

We’re rapidly approaching a point where JWAW weekly match reports will be totally redundant. In fact, I had half a mind to copy-paste last week’s comments into this post and save the pain of recounting yet another frustrating afternoon for Wigan Athletic. Having analysed (read: watched in fear) the Sky Sports coverage, there’s nothing new to report, so forgive me if I end up repeating myself more than once during the course of this post.

To sum things up, Latics’ failings at the back combined with a lack of potency up front were once again a cocktail for catastrophe resulting in the squandering of another chance to repair some damage lost. Some might already even term this irreparable; positive outlook or not, the horrible truth is that week by week, things are becoming increasingly dire. Although there is still plenty of time turn things round, and goodness knows how many lost causes have been rescued from similar situations, that is looking a distant pipe dream at the moment with some serious problems all over the pitch.

Where to start? Well, up front would be as good a position as any. Latics created chances in a quite even first half, but simply could not take them. Hugo Rodallega is particularly guilty of missing two fantastic opportunities, the latter of which must have been easier to score. As if to rub things in, Wolves went up the other end and scored within seconds of this chance, which brings us to the second point. Even if Latics had converted their opportunities, it probably would not have been enough to win the contest due to some familiar defensive disasters.

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