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WIGAN v MIDDLESBROUGH, Premier League, 18th September 2005
Schwarzer, Mr T, Ehiogu, Southgate, Queudrue, Morrison (Doriva 44), Boateng, Rochemback, Pogatetz, Yakubu, Viduka (Maccarone 60)
Jones, Bates, Graham
The JJB stadium is a jewel amongst the dark satanic Lancastrian mills. The aim of today was to make sure it was the only Jewell shining at five o'clock.
Squad rotation was once again prevalent today with Ray Parlour dropped for the first time and Pogosticks moved into midfield for his first ever Premiership start.
THE FIRST HALF
Wigan started brightly with Boro old boy Graham Kavanagh looking to make an early impression. He was soon checked by Pogosticks though.
Boro strung a lovely passing move together after just two minutes allowing nearly every player an early touch of the ball. It was much better than the shaky starts that we had recently endured.
But it was Wigan who won the first corner after six minutes when Bullard shot and Skippy turned the ball round the post. He was just as reassured when catching the corner.
Boro's first two corners came in quick succession on ten minutes, both courtesy of Rochemback who always beats the first man.
Both were cleared but Boro kept pressing forward without really threatening in these early stages.
Until Mark Viudka got hold of the ball and played the 100% perfect pass to his strike partner Yakubu who smashed the ball home. What a strike, what a goal...
WIGAN 0 MIDDLESBROUGH 1 (Yakubu 13 mins)
The goal fired Boro up and Rochemback, determined to double the scoreline quickly, fired in from twenty-five yards out but the shot was no threat as it sailed high over the bar.
But Wigan were just as determined to drag themselves back into it and the battle between Kavanagh and Rochemback was heating up and was sure to have a bearing on the result.
With a quarter of the game gone, Gareth Southgate played his third fourty-yard pass from defence to attack and picked out James Morrison.
Morrison picked out Mark Viduka who shook off his marker and set himself up to double the scoreline. The V-Bomber hit the shot high and wide and a great chance had gone begging.
On thirty-two minutes, Wigan won a free kick. They lined it up and were certainly looking to strike from the set-piece but Boro were more than equal to the task and after intercepting the ball, the whole team broke and surged forward, Pogosticks leading the line.
It was yet a superb chance that went begging when the linesman whistled Viduka offside and it was nothing short of a disappointment.
The Boro had gone scrappy with just a few minutes remaining of the first half and Pogosticks picked up a booking for a foul.
Then The Boat made a terrible mistake on our backline when under no pressure, giving the ball straight to the opposition. Ugo Ehiogu saved his skin by making the tackle.
Mr T almost gave a penalty away when handling a cross in the penalty area and we were living on our nerve ends at this stage.
With just two minutes remaining, Morrison who had picked up a knock earlier in the game was withdrawn and the arrival of Doriva meant a much needed midfield reshuffle.
Kavanagh was getting the better of Rochemback but Doriva's first touch was a cross to the unmarked Brazilian who blasted a header against the bar and very nearly opened his Boro account.
We were glad to hear the half time whistle though as we could not really have complained if our first half lead had been annulled.
FIRST HALF FAN REACTION
"The Yak is starting to show he is worth the price tag now..."
The Oort Cloud
"We should be three up at half time but we let a lot of chances go to waste. We could pay for that."
Mike_Boro
THE SECOND HALF
Boro kicked off the second half looking for a much more fliud performance than we had witnessed in the previous fourty-five minutes.
But the opening exchanges were poor with neither team putting a decent move together within the first ten minutes.
Boro had no cover at all on the right hand side and the team seemed to have lost it's shape, balance and discipline.
Skippy took a clattering when going for a high ball but recovered well. Steve Mc made a change in the hope that the team could do the same.
On came Massimo. All hail Massimo, and as the V-Bomber applauded the crowd, so Massimo took up his position in the front-line.
Boro had a couple of half chances that were blasted over by Rochemback but there was no need for Wigan to panic really.
Mr T made a great tackle to deny Wigan the equaliser but it was academic a few moments later as substitute Henri Camara ghosted past the seemingly disorganised Boro defence and slotted home. You could see it coming but Ugo somehow didn't.
WIGAN 1 MIDDLESBROUGH 1 (Camara 68 mins)
Captain Southgate tried to restore calm in the side but with the home crowd now in good voice, we really needed to up our tempo and get back into the game quickly.
Steve Mc got out of his seat and from the touchline he switched Pogosticks and French Franck around, moving the formation to 4-4-2 from whatever it was we were playing before.
And there was the sum of the problem today. We didn't seem to have a clue what we were doing and looked completely disjointed and unorganised.
INTO THE RED ZONE
There was no sense of urgency after Wigan had equalised and no sense that we were ever going to try hard to restore our lead.
There are many conclusions that can be realistically drawn from our lacklustre second half and the way that we squandered our lead when we should have at least doubled it before half time.
None of those conclusions will make pleasant reading and there can be no excuses for putting in a display like that when we are capable of defeating Arsenal.
And this has all been said before. This season. If Mr Gibson wants to know why the supporters are staying away, then he need look no further than the sorry performance at the JJB today.
SECOND HALF FAN REACTION
"I'm disappointed with the way we didn't kill them off when we had the chances to do so. We're just not putting the effort in right now and it's not good enough "
Mike_Boro
Final whistle: 1655 Report online: 1658
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