Wigan Athletic F.C. vs. Burnley F.C. - The Match Report

Wigan Athletic F.C. vs. Burnley F.C.

Date: Sunday 29^th December 2013

Venue: The DW Stadium

Referee: Michael Jones

Score: 0-0

A North West derby that lived up to absolutely none of the expectation saw Wigan Athletic earn a second successive point at home to Burnley.

In a game similar to Wigan’s last against Birmingham City, there were very few chances and neither side looked like promotion candidates.

The first real chance for Wigan came after twenty minutes when Jordi Gomez played a through ball to Marc-Antoine Fortune who took a shot at a tight angle and forced Tom Heaton in the Burnley net to make a save. Chris McCann then had a header cleared off the line after a corner.

However, the big chance of the half came just before half time and for Burnley. Ali Al-Habsi managed to get his fingers to Dave Jones’ shot and push the ball against the underside of the crossbar. The ball hit Al-Habsi’s back and looked sure to be crossing the line before the ever reliable Leon Barnett appeared to clear off the line.

In terms of the first half, Wigan were the dominant side and had the majority of the possession but it was Burnley, however, who looked the more likely to score when they made their way up the field to the Wigan goal.

In the second half Wigan attempted to put pressure on their opposition and it seemed that Burnley welcomed this pressure and were happy with a draw; they did not try to make Wigan work and spent the second 45 minutes striving to hit them on the break.

Things got tense and exciting in the last ten minutes as James McClean crossed to Stephen Crainey who passed to McCann for his shot to be blocked. Then, Powell saw a shot hit the side netting when really he should have passed inside to McClean.

It became clear that no-one was going to score in this game and both teams left the DW stadium with a point.

Wigan are in desperate need of a striker who can score goals in the Championship. Fortune and Holt are simply not good enough whilst Powell does not look like he will give 100% for the full 90 minutes of each game. Generally the play in the final third of the field is not good enough for promotion candidates despite the rest of the play being organised and effective. Things are definitely looking up for Wigan, however, due to the appointment of Uwe Rosler.