Photographs from the crucial Premier League clash with Birmingham City on Saturday 19 March. It was a variously tense and exciting afternoon, especially when things picked up in the second half.

The best of these pics will be available on the Illarterate Flickr channel soon, so check that out if you get the chance.

Maynor Figueroa doesn't score insignificant goals

2.35pm at the DW concourse, and all eyes were on West Ham’s battling performance against Champions League contenders Tottenham at White Hart Lane. It most likely will have gone unnoticed, but it was around this time that the starting lineups for Wigan’s clash with Birmingham were announced over the stadium tannoy. Had they been paying full attention, I’m fairly sure thousands of Wiganers transfixed by those tellies would have let out a large groan en masse when it was confirmed that Franco Di Santo would start ahead of both Rodallega and Sammon.

It wasn’t a huge surprise, all told, and undoubtedly the safe, conservative option once it became clear Hugo could not last the full 90 minutes. Safe, however, won’t get you the goals. Conservative won’t turn a draw into a win, a fact borne out in 60 minutes of football at the DW Stadium this afternoon. Thank goodness things changed from thereon in, and how.

You probably know by now that I wanted Wigan to start this game pretty much as they finished against Manchester City two weeks ago, with two front men that can actually pose a threat to the opposition goalmouth; it’s what we’ve been lacking for much, if not all of this season. Instead, we were forced to settle for Di Santo and his continued struggle to win the ball, let alone create any chances of note on his own against four opposition defenders. He looked lethargic and strangled, outnumbered by a physical Birmingham backline that ate the Argentinian for breakfast, dinner and tea. It simply wasn’t working, something even Derek Acorah would have been able to predict with ease.

As if to underline Latics’ problems, Liam Ridgewell cropped up on 6 minutes to slot home via the head of Jiranek. You could say Wigan should have cleared the initial free kick, which ultimately led to the goal, wasn’t fully dealt with, but then you could also say the former Villa man was in an offside position. Whatever, it was a goal, and a blow to the home side’s confidence from which they took a while to recover.

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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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Paul Scharner had a terrible first half

An improved second half performance couldn’t quite grab a vital point for Wigan at St. Andrews. In fact, things could have been even better considering Birmingham’s average second half, which saw Chris Kirkland tested only once, but Latics once again struggled to create opportunities.

A draw would have been very handy, but as it stands Wigan lie just a single point above the relegation zone with a tough test to come against Liverpool next Monday. The sheer frustration of the Tottenham and Bolton contests spilled over into another game without a goal and, more worryingly, little to no efforts on target.

As the commentators were quick to point out, when you’re at the bottom things seem ten times harder, and though Wigan had the majority of the 50/50 decisions in the second period, they could not capitalise on their good fortune. Again.

Wigan’s best chance came in the latter part of the game as Hugo Rodallega forced Joe Hart to advance from his line and make a solid save. It was a nice move that pounced on a Birmingham defensive mistake as McCarthy played in Hugo who got a decent effort in, but the Birmingham keeper was equal to it.

There was another good chance for either Gomez or Rodallega, who somehow managed to get in the way of each other, but that was it in terms of opportunities. It seems they’ve dried up in recent times, at the exact point we don’t want them to – not even the best efforts of the two young men Moses and McCarthy could create anything other than the odd tame effort rolling out for a goal kick. A pity, because as the game wore on you increasingly thought Birmingham were there for the taking: any dominance they’d built up in the first 45 just fizzled out as Bramble and Caldwell extinguished all potential attacks from City’s impotent front line.

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