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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I’ve managed to scrape enough cash together for a (slightly) better camera, woohoo! See more pics from this Prem contest and past matches at the Illarterate Flickr stream.

Brum boss Alex McLeish will be well pleased with his side's first away win

Forget about curates’ eggs, Wigan’s performance today was more like a Scotch egg: on the whole meaty, but with an all too apparent yellow centre. There was plenty of sausagey goodness to be found, but the whole thing was spoiled by the failings of Latics’ eggy underbelly: the defence. And man, does it leave a bad taste in the mouth.

On another day, maybe two goals would have been enough to grab all three points, but this wasn’t another day. Wigan were left to rue missed chances, as for all their smooth passing and marauding runs they only had one goal to show for their efforts. In fact, the backline had Mike Pollitt — who entered the fray early on thanks to another breakdown from Chris ‘Glass Back’ Kirkland — to thank for a magnificent save or two to deny Birmingham a  goal in the first 45 minutes.

In truth, though, Wigan dominated the first half. So far this season, I don’t believe I’ve seen us look so comfortable and trouble a defence as much as we did prior to 3:47PM today – the notoriously dodgy centre backs held out quite well, and Wigan really could have put the match to bed by the interval.

Hugo Rodallega and Charles N’Zogbia ran riot, creating chances aplenty and really taking it to the opposition, who by and large had no answer. The latter’s controlled strike gave the home side a lead on 33 minutes, and it was certainly coming. The former had more than a few glorious chances to make it 2-0 and make the scoreline a bit more reflective of first half possession and chances created.

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