Wigan Athletic F.C. vs. Brighton and Hove Albion F.C. - The Match Report

Wigan Athletic F.C. vs. Brighton and Hove Albion F.C.

Date: Saturday 23rd November 2013

Venue: The DW Stadium

Referee: Iain Williamson

Score: 0-1

Arguably their worst performance of the season saw supposed promotion candidates Wigan Athletic lose to a by no means impressive Brighton side.

The Latics, who had been unbeaten at home in all competitions this season, had the first chance of the game after just six minutes as Leon Barnett smashed a shot wide from a Ben Watson corner.

Five minutes later, Watson played a brilliant one-two with Marc-Antoine Fortune which led to the FA Cup hero being through on goal. Unfortunately for Wigan, who have scored only three goals in their last five league games, Watson failed to test Brighton ‘keeper Tomasz Kuszczak.

After the break Wigan did not step up their game while Brighton attempted to quicken their play which took the Latics by surprise. This was seen when Brighton went up the field far too easily and Ashley Barnes crossed for an unmarked Jake Forster-Caskey to head directly into the arms of Lee Nicholls.

As the game slowly became more open, Grant Holt found himself in a position that strikers of his calibre dream of being in: one-on-one with the ‘keeper. He had worked hard to win the ball off Gordon Greer and all he had to do was put the ball in the back of the net. Consistent with Wigan and Holt’s lack of scoring this season, he missed.

Groans could be heard echoing around the DW stadium and there was a moment of disbelief. This disbelief turned to anger, however, as Brighton made their way straight up the other end of the pitch and scored. 1-0 Brighton.

Nicholls made a quite miraculous save from the head of Forster-Caskey (who was yet again unmarked) and, as he was returning to his feet the ball was put in by Andrew Crofts. Crofts was left unmarked for a good three seconds before heading the seagulls in front.

Then, a very rare and very late surge from Wigan saw a Holt header from a James McClean cross saved excellently by Kuszczak.

These match reports must be getting rather tiresome because the same points are being flagged up every single week and it seems that Owen Coyle either does nothing about these problems in training or he is completely oblivious! Wigan cannot score! Every week they have several clear-cut chances to take the lead and win the three points in style but every week they fail to convert enough of these chances.

Generally the football is atrocious: Long-ball stuff that Holt and Fortune are incapable of controlling. Gone are the days when Wigan played from the back and utilised the wingers. It has become apparent that Coyle is not a tactical genius and cannot even produce a decent substitution which will tilt the game in Wigan’s favour.