This was one of those games you wish you’d brought a cap for, especially if you’re towards the back of the East Stand. I did not and spent 3/4 of the game shielding my eyes from the sun, as it was a surprisingly clement afternoon for Wigan in October. It kind of made up for the lack of positive on-pitch action, but not really. Still, here are some photos from the warmup for this South Lancastrian clash.

A bumper selection of pics for you today. High quality images will be made available on the Flickr Illarterate stream under the Creative Commons Attribution license. This means you are free to repost them wherever you wish, provided some credit is applied.

No laughing matter: A defensive disaster for Wigan

Hmm… how to dissect this one? Best to start with good news and build up to the disappointing parts, otherwise one might become too depressed to even hit the ‘read more’ link. Yep, positive points are always a good hook. Happily, the ‘preview‘ I posted two days ago transpired to be a tad erroneous: both Antolin Alcaraz and Hugo Rodallega, who many expected to be sidelined for at least a month, returned to the first team this afternoon. Home fans were cheered by the return of Alcaraz to his familiar position in the centre of defence, while Hugo occupied the bench as the tried-and-tested 4-5-1 was once again how Latics lined up.

In other changes, Steve Gohouri was reinstated to the left hand side of defence in favour of Patrick van Aanholt and Maynor Figueroa. David Jones also made the starting lineup ahead of an injured(?) Ronnie Stam while Mike Pollitt took up the role of sub keeper in the absence of an on-loan Chris Kirkland. I’d rather not speak of his Doncaster début, which saw him concede three goals at home to Leeds, but I guess I already have so we shall switch subjects to today’s game as soon as possible.

Wigan picked up where they left off before the international break and conceded on 4 minutes, Nigel Reo Coker just beating Caldwell to tap the ball past Al Habsi for a relatively soft opener. This characterised the early stages, when Latics could not gain any sort of foothold whatsoever and a nervy backline were forced to pass in and around their own penalty area. Bolton gleefully capitalised upon this defensive lapse and any confidence regained in two weeks’ break was quickly eroded as Wanderers fans simply kicked back, lit up a cigar and ordered the Port. Well, I think that’s what they must drink up Horwich way. For the hosts, it certainly was not the best of starts.

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Omani shot-stopper and former Bolton 'mon' Ali Al-Habsi will face his previous employers for the first time

Welcome back, Latic fanatics, to the weekly grind of domestic football. I sincerely hope you’ve had a good two weeks’ recuperation because you’re gonna need all your energy for this weekend’s absolutely massive north west derby.

No, I’m not talking about that Liverpool-Man United TV programme thingy Sky seem to be promoting incessantly, because an even bigger Lancashire rivalry is back for another instalment of biting, spitting and general loutish behaviour, at least if historical encounters are anything to go by. Not that I would condone such actions, of course. Well, at least not when the referee’s looking.

In terms of recent meetings between Latics and the Trotters, things have been fairly even:

Wigan v Bolton in the 2010-11 Season

• Feb 2011: Wigan 0-1 Bolton (FA Cup)
• Jan 2011: Wigan 0-0 Bolton (FA Cup)
• Jan 2011: Bolton 1-1 Wigan (Prem)
• Oct 2010: Wigan 1-1 Bolton (Prem)

Wigan and Bolton will probably be sick of the sight of each other after a whopping four meetings last season, despite the luxury(?) of an eight-month break. Though a similar outcome this weekend would not be hugely surprising,  a Latics hammering is always a possibility. This was borne out in Bolton’s 4-0 thrashing of Latics back in March 2010, a day I’m sure we’d all rather forget.

In terms of more recent form, both sides have been toiling at the bottom of the table with just one win apiece. Wanderers in particular have suffered – six straight losses just about trumps Wigan’s four while our 11 goals conceded pales in comparison to poor old Bolton’s 21. And we thought we had it bad. It must be noted, however, that four of the Trotters’ first seven Prem clashes have been against Liverpool, Man City, Man United and Chelsea, whereas Latics have only faced Man City and Tottenham in the same period. Quite obviously, this clash represents the ideal opportunity for both sides to kick-start their ailing season with three more than useful Premier League points.

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Weekend off: A win-win situation for Bobby?

Bit of a fractured week, this, with FA Cup, Premier League, Champions League and Europa games all thrown into the mix spanning a seven day period. For Latics, however, the equation was rather simple: win tonight and face another Cup match against Fulham on Sunday. Sounds fun, doesn’t it?

Though Martinez was keeping his usual straight-laced, straight-faced perspective on a potential week of FA Cup ties, you just know that, deep down, he would have preferred to give his players a two week rest in preparation for the Premier League battles to come. I mean, come on. He wouldn’t be human if he didn’t see this week as even a little bit of a hindrance to Latics’ survival aspirations.

Of course, it offered yet another opportunity for the likes of Adrian Lopez, Daniel Redmond and Callum McManaman to get some first team action against Premier League opposition, and by itself you’d think that’s a good thing. Perhaps it may turn out to be, who knows? Maybe Macca will be sticking a hat trick past Stoke on the final day of the season to keep us in the Prem for another season. Maybe Conor Sammon is the 600,000 Dollar Man to replace a radically off-the-pace Mauro Boselli and will grab ten goals between now and May? Perhaps, but he was ineligible for today so we’ll have to wait a bit longer to see him.

However, with our league position looking rather precarious –to the point your heart begins to sink when you see the league table– one can’t help but view tonight’s game as a mildly unwelcome distraction. A bit like Michael McIntyre, only much less irritating and, most of the time, infinitely more humorous. Well, maybe less so now Titus Bramble has left, but I suppose that cat mascot thing is always good for a laugh – looks like he learned his moves from JJ.

It’s going to take something special, a winning run the likes of which we haven’t seen under Martinez thus far, for us to emerge from this pickle with our heads intact. Forget all that just now, though. Tonight was about the regular bench-warmers and eager second-teamers getting a good run out, which they certainly did. Gary Caldwell and Momo Diame were the only survivors from the starting XI that ground out a 1–1 draw with Liverpool on Saturday with Watson, Moses and McCarthy taking their seats on the subs bench. The rest would receive a well-earned rest, which will be vital for the difficult run of fixtures to come… yeesh, I don’t even want to think about them.

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