Wigan Athletic F.C. vs. Birmingham City F.C. - The Match Report

Wigan Athletic F.C. vs. Birmingham City F.C.

Date: Thursday 26^th December

Venue: The DW Stadium

Referee: Stephen Martin

Score: 0-0

Wigan Athletic remain unbeaten in the league under new manager, Uwe Rosler, despite playing out a dour 0-0 draw at the DW stadium on Boxing Day.

Neither team really got going in the Boxing Day fixture and the closest that Wigan went to scoring a goal was a thumping shot from James McClean that went just wide of the Birmingham City post.

Eventually one team became dominant and that team was Birmingham. They were pushing up on a Wigan side that looked sluggish at the back and would have scored were it not for Leon Barnett, who blocked a shot from Chris Burke.

It was only in the last five minutes of the first half that Wigan looked like more of a team and appeared dangerous on the attack.

Some hard work from Grant Holt allowed Callum McManaman to take a shot from 20 yards which City ‘keeper, Darren Randolph, saved.

The second half was equally lacking in chances but Wigan slowly attempted to put a little pressure on the Birmingham net towards the hour mark but unfortunately to no avail.

Then, just after the hour mark, the most exciting moment of the match occurred: Jesse Lingard, Birmingham City midfielder, on loan from Manchester United, was sent off or a dangerous lunge on Jordi Gomez.

However, Wigan could not make their extra man count and the game ended 0-0.

Rosler changed the formation for this game and played 3-4-3. This new formation did not have the desired effect and, when Thomas Rogne found himself injured early on in the game, Rosler reverted back to 4-3-3, which had worked so well in his previous games. This change of formation did not change the game however and Wigan still looked sluggish. Generally, Wigan were pretty good but without Nick Powell they did not seem to have that spark which wins games.