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Ipswich Town vs. Wigan Athletic
Date: Saturday 15th March 2014
Venue: Portman Road
Referee: David Coote
Score: 1-3
Uwe Rosler’s Wigan Athletic made it eight consecutive wins in all competitions after beating an Ipswich Town side that hadn’t lost in their last four at home.
Tommy Smith put the home side ahead after nineteen minutes, only for James McClean to cancel that out after a brilliant counter attack from the Latics.
Just before half-time, Leon Barnett latched onto the end of a Jordi Gomez free-kick to head the F.A. Cup semi-finalists into the lead.
Then, in the closing stages, McClean put the game beyond Ipswich as he scored his second and Wigan’s third to send the three hundred or so Latics’ fans home happy.
This was not the most exciting game in the world but Wigan will not mind as the win moves them up to fifth in the table with two games in hand.
Ipswich took the game to Wigan early on and got their reward after nineteen minutes when defender, Smith, scored past Ali Al-Habsi after an exquisite turn. Wigan were unable to clear their lines and the defending that lead to the goal was not very impressive.
This seemed to spark some life into the Latics and, almost immediately, they were on level terms. An unmarked McClean got onto the end of Marc-Antoine Fortune’s cross to makes the scores 1-1.
Luke Hyam had a chance to put Ipswich back in the lead but could only manage to put his shot over the bar.
Minutes later, Wigan were ahead. Gomez put a world class free-kick into the box which Barnett headed past flailing keeper, Dean Gerken.
A Latics team that is simply full of confidence at the moment let their quality shine through in the second half and they killed the game off after seventy seven minutes. Fortune found McClean at the back post and the Irishman just had to tap the ball into the net.
Another convincing win for Wigan as they continue their push for promotion. All is well in Wigan at the moment. If only Rosler had been at the club since the beginning of the season.