I have a feeling, and its rather strong, that the following post will turn into a slight rant instead of a match report. So before hand I apologise, but when your team goes out and plays how poorly Latics did, it hits certain nerves.
First off I don't fault the management on the result, the seven changes made to the side, may have given it and unknown look. However players of the quality we have at Wigan, should still be able to go out and play well. Not one of our players that started the match was an unexperienced player.
So where did it all go wrong. Well inside 30 minutes it had gone as wrong as it could. First a Darren Ambrose tap in, after some slopping defending allowed Palace to reach the by-line. The ball back across leaving the goal open for Ambrose to score. Palace did deserve their lead, but we should have done better.
Then it got even worse for Latics, a cross into the box was poorly cleared. It fell to youngster Williams, who smashed the ball home. 2-0 Palace, we didn't have a clue at all.
Second half rolled on and Martinez and reshuffled the squad, and no doubt had a stern talk to the lads who went back out fighting. Yet it wasn't quite enough.
Ben Watson in stoppage time pulled a goal back with a fine strike. The ex-palace player is in the form of his life at the moment, and it showed when he came on and controlled the middle of the park in the second half.
So we are out of the Carling Cup once again. We have only managed to get past the second round of the Carling Cup, once in the past six seasons since we went all the way. We will have to wait another year to try our luck.
It's very frustrating knowing your team can and should do better when they play teams. Yet for the past two games, our moment from earlier results has gone. The international break for once has really messed Latics up.
Yet there is always a bright side, and this week it has to come in the form of the full debuts for Albert Crusat, Shaun Maloney, David Jones and Patrick Van Anholt. Hopefully we will see more of the four players to come in the future months.