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Wigan Athletic F.C. Vs. Rubin Kazan F.C.
Date: Thursday 24th October 2013
Venue: The DW Stadium
Referee: Florian Meyer
Score: 1-1
Another impressive performance as Wigan Athletic continue their unbeaten run in the Europa League with a 1-1 draw with Russian team, Rubin Kazan.
Wigan started well and they seemed to be full of purpose and intent but, as has been a recurring theme this season for Wigan, the opposition scored first through Aleksandr Prudnikov’s clinical, 15th minute finish. Leon Barnett in the Wigan defence attempted to play Prudnikov offside but got it all wrong and Scott Carson found himself one on one with the huge number 9 who slotted home from 8 yards.
Jordi Gomez had a great chance to put Wigan level before on loan Nick Powell expertly and accurately beat Sergei Ryzhikov from 12 yards in a move that he started himself to score his third European goal for the Latics.
The game was rather flat in the second half and the atmosphere mirrored this as the one hundred or so Kazan fans could not be heard at all. Grant Holt was offering very little up front and was subsequently substituted for Marc-Antoine Fortune who really made an impact. The Frenchman, who is yet to score this season for Wigan, should have bagged two as he shot tamely straight into the arms of Ryzhikov before having another shot brilliantly saved in the last minute of the game after some really great work from Callum McManaman.
These misses could prove costly as Wigan are to travel to Russia on the 7th of November but all seems well on the European front for Wigan Athletic.
McManaman showed glimpses of last season’s form for the first time in the Coyle era, Fortune made a real impact after coming on as a substitute and, of course, Powell is becoming a player that Wigan can rely on to do something special to keep them in games.
If Wigan were to take their European style of play into the Championship then they would be much higher in the table. They pass the ball a lot more and the link up play is excellent, whereas, in the Championship the ‘hit and hope’ is being used too frequently and to the detriment of the team.