Jordi Gomez: A flash of inspiration brought Latics back into things

In many ways, this was not your typical Lancastrian Carling Cup derby. For one thing, Latics’ style of play is anything but Northern.

In fact, you’d be hard pressed to find an Englishman amongst their starting line-up from last night’s tie with close rivals Preston North End. With Chris Kirkland currently out of favour and Victor Moses sat firmly on the bench, Ben Watson was the only Wigan man born of this country to grace the pitch at kick off last night. And he’s a Southerner.

There was, however, the unmistakable whiff of cup tie floating around the Dee Dubya on this relatively humid September evening. Though the Lilywhites brought a decent amount of troops south of the Greater Manchester border, the total attendance literally reeked of a Wednesday night non-Premier League game. Perhaps the utter dejection of last season’s defeat at the hands of League Two Notts County is still fresh in many Latics fans’ minds. Still, for ten quid, you’d think it may just be worth a punt.

Doubtless some present in the East and West stands would have had second thoughts about their attendance when Keith ‘Don’t Call Me Dick’ Treacy put the visitors ahead with a pleasant free-kick on 23 minutes. There was no repeat of the ticket ripping and replica shirt throwing exploits of this time last season, at least not yet, but many (including myself) feared the worst.

As the minutes ticked by without a Latics shot on target, this agitation grew, gradually turning to resignation as the 87th minute arrived. Well, it wouldn’t have been a surprise had Latics crashed out last night, even if the starting lineup was fairly close to full-strength. It would have been some consolation that, with the above average number of big name clubs crashing out at the second hurdle, Latics’ result would surely have been buried under column inches dedicated to Northampton’s victory over Liverpool.

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Couldn’t make it to this game, unfortunately — something about trains being unreliable — but thanks to the wonders of technology I was able to listen to a (rather biased, but what else would you expect?) Wigan Athletic World broadcast via the official website.

I do wish I could have been there, as all accounts seem to report a Latics side performing more like Manchester United than the Colchester United we’ve been used to of late. Well, maybe that was a bit uncalled for, but things are definitely clicking into place for Roberto Martinez’s side now.

Coupled with a below-par Preston performance, it turned out to be something of a rout as Rodders, Browny and N’Zogbia all found their way onto the scoresheet. There was also a goal for new boy Jason Scotland, which was met with cheers from the 2000-strong Latics travelling support.

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