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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 bore 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.

Emmerson Boyce had a fantastic game in the right back position

Despite all these problems, Wigan actually came away from the first half in the ascendancy, having pulled level on 25 minutes through Johnny on the Spot Tom Cleverley, who was on hand to mop up a spilled Ben Foster cross and grab his fourth goal for the club. A boost, no doubt, for prior to that moment Latics found it hard to string more than a few passes together, even garnering some boos for their perceived incompetence.

It can’t have helped that a formation not exactly conducive to scoring goals left Wigan all but playing with ten men and another bloke who is sometimes able to come into the action, briefly. In other words, Di Santo on his own up front was a bit of a pants idea, injuries or no.

To be fair, Franco did have one or two moments of promise, showing he isn’t a complete and total waste, in the fifteen minutes he played of the second half. Wigan seemed much brighter, beginning to get a real foothold in the game and having their best spell around the 60 minute mark. Then came the real turning point, the revelation. Rodallega and Sammon were introduced into the action in a double substitution, and what a difference it made. Immediately, things started to click in the final third and for about 20 minutes the visitors had no answer to the home side’s endless pressure.

"King" Sammon looked lively (Credit: Alasdair Middleton)

Watson, Cleverley and N’Zobgia began to win more possession in midfield, chasing the ball and actually playing with some passion, something that’s been woefully lacking of late. On occasion, even Gary Caldwell stepped up to play the feeding midfielder position, admittedly with varying results, as Latics packed out the Brum penalty area. Finally, it was as if the importance of this match had begun to seep through and Birmingham could only try and slow things down as Wigan literally began to fight for their Premier League lives.

For all this endeavour, however, the ball had still to cross Ben Foster’s goal line. It seemed that even with a busier and more likely front line, the same old problem of sticking the ball in the net reared its ugly head. Having said this, I’m sure that, given more time the goals would have come, and at any rate this was definitely better than the lone front man tactic which wouldn’t have worked in of a season of matches. But then, I suppose there is ample evidence for this in the fact we’re rooted to the bottom of the table.

As the game drew to a close, Birmingham became proficient in tempering the hosts’ attacking threat, creating one or two chances of their own to boot. Cameron Jerome did his best to cause problems but suffered much the same fate as Di Santo, on his own in the Wigan half as his team mates defended for all they were worth. For most of the time, though, it worked in the sense they managed to repel all attacks.

Alex McLeish's side are now in the bottom three

I don’t know if I would be praising Wigan as much as I would have been if this contest were to end one apiece, because things would have been pretty dire. As it happened, Latics’ hard work was to be rewarded as two minutes into injury time Maynor Figueroa let fly with what looked like a bit of a pot shot which would normally have been snaffled by Ben Foster. However, for one reason or other he went the wrong way as the ball sailed into the centre of his goal, sending the home faithful into raptures. It was all a bit unusual, and you could have been forgiven for thinking Fig’s shot took a deflection on its way into the South Stand goal.

I don’t need to stress this, but the importance of that goal, which ensured Latics bagged the all-important Premier League points, was immense. Lose or draw today and you’d have felt it was as good as over for our survival hopes, but for once, thankfully, Wigan actually won a game they deserved to.

It keeps us in with a shout for another week, and with Hugo and Conor forming a partnership of some promise, there is hope we can pull off what will surely be known forever as Wigan’s great escape. Indeed, the odd rendition of the film’s classic theme could be heard in certain sections of the home support as Latics pushed for that vital winner.

With three points now separating the bottom eight clubs, the survival race has been blown wide open, and I’d say three wins and a couple of draws –which would take us to 41 points– may just be enough to see us through to our seventh season in the Prem. It ain’t gonna be easy, but here’s hoping. Three more against Tottenham, anyone?

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.

No matter, though, as there was a whole half of football to play yet. The second stanza saw much of the same attacking stuff from both sides, but the difference here was that Wigan started to seize some control. I say ‘some’, as even though they looked threatening on the break, you got the feeling there was always the chance the visitors’ back four would be exposed. And they were on a couple of occasions, Al-Habsi once again coming to Latics’ rescue with some decent saves.

There were no clear-cut chances for either side. Birmingham went close with a header just past the post. Wigan’s best moment of the second half was perhaps Franco Di Santo’s ball through to Rodallega which, had it been just a tad lighter, would have led to a certain goal, you feel. In the end the ball ran through harmlessly to Ben Foster, but the Argentinian’s powerful run to the edge of the area perhaps deserved a bit more.

The aforementioned Di Santo would later have to be removed from the field of play following a two footed challenge from Craig Gardner. Much to the dismay of the raucous home support, the ex-Villa man was issued a straight red for his sins. Nothing much else in the way of excitement would follow, Latics unable to capitalise in what little time (six minutes) remained, and the game petered out to a 0-0 draw.

Good points from the afternoon would be Wigan’s good physical presence and dominance of possession in the second half. A bad point would be Rodallega’s frst half petulance, though I think we can forgive him that because it certainly seemed to tweak the atmosphere up a notch.

Another negative is that today’s results didn’t really go our way, and we find ourselves only one place above the dreaded dropzone. Still, that’s a place higher than we were this time yesterday, and I doubt the FA are gonna be ringing round tomorrow to call a halt to this season’s proceedings as early as September.

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.

Initially quite solid, the Birmingham backline looked increasingly shaky

It was the same story at both ends, with plenty in the way of smooth passing moves and decent spells of possession but no real firepower in front of goal. Wigan finished by far the stronger as they looked to push for the second, but Birmingham managed to hang on in the last 25 minutes and net all three points.

The first half was a different story, with Birmingham bossing both possession and chances. Wigan had opportunities of their own, but thanks to Chris Kirkland entered the final minute of the half with their clean sheet intact. Just when you thought it was mission accomplished, a challenge on the edge of the Wigan penalty area from Mario Melchiot saw Keith Fahey go flying, and the poor Wigan captain looked shellshocked when he finally realised the referee had given a penalty. It probably was, but contact was minimal considering Fahey’s wonderful impression of Amy Williams.

McFadden put it away, and that was that for the first half. Wigan, who’d up to this point been playing a 4-5-1 with Paul Scharner the playmaker, switched to 4-4-2 and introduced Scotland and Moses. It seemed to work, as the second half was much brighter with Wigan having more and more of the play as the game progressed… but no goal.

Overall, an excellent defensive performance, decent midfield controlling, but no experience to put the ball in the net. I’m struggling to think what else Wigan could have done, but it all comes down to not actually scoring, which must by now be completely baffling Martinez and the Latics management.

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.

Birmingham's Joe Hart has a word with his team mates at half time

But Birmingham came out of the break revitalised, and took the game by the scruff of the neck with a goal on 61 minutes from Larsson. In all truth, it really should have been cleared by a shaky Wigan defence, who began to slowly crumble from that point onwards. A large slice of luck was involved in the buildup to the goal, referee Lee Probert conjuring a freekick out of nowhere to come to Birmingham’s rescue.

Kirkland in injury-free times

It seemed to spark the visitors into life, and they would go on to double and triple their tally in the subsequent ten minute period, undoing all the good first half work by Latics’ forward line in one fell swoop. Perhaps Pollitt may have been slightly at fault for failing to deflect the third — a Larsson free kick — past his right post, but we’ll not dwell on that too much because Polly is lacking match practise and clearly did his best and kept Wigan at 1-0 on numerous occasions.

A second wind for the Latics saw a pleasant last-minute free kick by Gomez round off the day, but it was all too late for the home side. A pity, because if the game would have been decided based on quality of goals, I think Wigan would have just about shaded it.

That’s all I can remember right now. I seem to recall thinking Latics were lucky not to concede a penalty at some point in the first half, but Wigan were so dominant and the abject disappointment is so great you can forgive me for neglecting to mention that.

Today’s opponents were admittedly better in the attacking department than Sunderland, but still represented a side we should be looking to beat if we’re to stay in the division. Which I’m sure we will, if we sort out these horrible defensive discrepancies which reared their ugly head once again this afternoon.

And anyway, I suppose we all should have expected this result because we won last week. Don’t worry too much, expect things to be a bit brighter against Stoke.

A final quick word must go to Alex McLeish, who took time out to sign a few autographs down at the dugouts half an hour before the game. I believe that makes him the first to do so this season, so a big ‘cheers’ to Alex!

• BBC match review
• Official Latics site match review