Welcome back to JWAW, the shamelessly Latics-biased site with absolutely no annoying popups or adverts for completely irrelevant stuff you don’t want. Today we’ve got a few pics from the buildup to Saturday’s Wigan-Burnley game which are, as usual, released under the Creative Commons license. This pretty much means you can use ‘em for whatever you like as long as you credit Illarterate (that’s me, by the way).

A few pics from the Villa game are still to come at some point, as is some more multimedia stuff related to Thursday’s events at the club shop. Keep it here for all that coming up in the next week.

Reminiscing upon this afternoon’s match, I was reminded of an October afternoon in 2005 when Wigan, having had a so-so game, grabbed a last-minute winner to dispatch Fulham 1-0 at the JJB Stadium. Pascal Chimbonda, sneaking in at the back post, stole all three points to head the Latics into dreamland with their seventh win in eight games unbeaten.

During the first half of that season, everything we touched seemed to turn to gold and thanks to that magical run Wigan were all but safe by Christmas. Though we can’t exactly say the same of this campaign, for me, there was certainly a hint of 2005 about this afternoon. Specifically, I’m talking about that little bit of luck to help us snatch those crucial wins that could ultimately keep us in the Premier League for a sixth successive season.

There aren’t many games Wigan could safely say are “three point bankers” this season, testament to our up-and-down, topsy turvy form; it’s been a mixture of very good (Chelsea, Liverpool and Aston Villa away) and some absolutely dire stuff characterised by lacklustre defending and lack of real heart or even effort. Take Bolton last week for a prime example of this – Wigan were by no means outplayed, but once that second goal went in that, as they say, was that.

This particular encounter with another Lancashire (arch?) rival contained a combination of both the poorer stuff that’s seen us toiling in the bottom half of the league, which Latics exhibited for periods of the first half, and the excellent forward-thinking movement which, sadly for Latics, only began to materialise in the latter part of the second half.

But Wigan needed not worry, for the fourth official had magically found four minutes of stoppage time somewhere in the back of his pocket or something. It wasn’t as if either team was doing a lot of time-wasting as such, at least not in the second period, so perhaps the injuries and substitutions combined with the linesman stoking up a stogie somehow added up to a total of 240 seconds. I tend to think the officials decided to add an extra minute for Brian Jensen’s first-half bootlace tying at the end of the game. Trust me, I swear they do it all the time.

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Rodders was on target twice to deny The Clarets

A question of ethics for you all now. You’re in position to slot the ball into the back of the net, but the opposing goalkeeper is lying injured on the ground. Is it morally right or just plain stupid to kick the ball out of play for the goalie to have treatment, when you have a clear and certain opportunity to easily roll the ball over the goal line? Faced with that situation this afternoon, I’m sure Hugo Rodallega would have been berated by the powers that be at Wigan Athletic had he done the former.

After all, this is the very top flight of English football. Chivalrous moments such as the scenario described can and do happen in Sunday league matches, but are few and far between in the dog-eat-dog, big money world of the Premier League. It’s just outright bad luck that Burnley found their own keeper, Brian ‘The Beast’ Jensen, in said unfortunate situation at approximately 3:11PM today, doubly so as he’d already made two cracking saves up until this point.

Yes, Rodders had to put it away, no question.

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What, you thought I meant the Liverpool-Man U game? Not a chance.

More local derby goodness to come this weekend, with a trip down the road to Turf Moor on Saturday. It’s a tasty encounter in prospect, as although both teams have experienced extremes of good and bad thus far in the 2009 campaign, should each be on their game, we could potentially have a game to eclipse even a certain other NW derby this weekend. Let’s face it, injury problems are likely to water down that match somewhat (famous last words…).

Not that this game is likely to be anywhere close to the start of Match of the Day, after all, it’s Little Burnley against Even Littler Wigan, such is the top-four bias in the mainstream media. But who could blame them? That Fergie bloke’s more entertainment than the vast majority of contestants on Britain’s Got the X Factor. Can’t say the same for the rest, however, as in contrast, they’ve been inconspicuous this season. Perhaps the likes of Carol [sic] Ancelotti and Rafa Benitez know they have their work cut out.

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