2006 - The Review - March & April
Feature by Greg Farrimond
Updated Friday, 5th January 2007
Part Two of the 2006 review focuses on the months March and April. After the Carlign Cup final, how did the Latics fair going into the final few months of the Premiership?
MarchFollowing that crushing Carling Cup Final defeat to the hands of
Manchester United, Wigan met the red devils again 8 days later at the JJB and for the first time ever took the lead through Paul Scharner and fully deserved it.
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As United tend to do though, they equalised through Christiano Ronaldo 14 minutes later. Oh well a draw is ok, we deserved to win but a point against Man United was good enough…. or so we thought.
Just as we began to forget we were in the lead and began to settle for a point, Pascal Chimbonda put the ball in his own net, trying to clear it off his own line giving Man Utd a last minute winner they most certainly didn't deserve.
One shot on target all game and they scored two goals, and they claim they're not lucky! Gutted. Henri Camara scored the goal of the season against
Sunderland though to bring some joy to Wiganers faces.
The speculative effort was the difference between the two sides at the Stadium of Light. Wigan made it back to back wins at Man City with a 1 nil win thanks to a Lee McCulloch header, these two results giving us our first and second Premiership doubles!
I'm sure Wigan and West Ham have this deal where the home side has to let the away side win as it always seems the case. West Ham stretched Wigan's poor home form to 7 without a win.
AprilJust as we were getting over that man Phil Dowd after his disgraceful display at
Arsenal in the Carling Cup, we were unlucky enough to have him in charge against Blackburn at Ewood Park and once again he made an utter idiot out
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of himself, portraying another awful performance.
Disallowing 2 clear goals for Wigan that when replayed, showed nothing wrong and then giving Blackburn the most dubious of equalisers in the 1-1 draw. I'm sure Wigan and West Ham have a pact, where we have to win at their place as long as they are aloud to do so at ours.
Two years in a row it happened, as we were defeated 2-1 at the JJB. Birmingham stole a late point at the JJB through a David Dunn goal as Latics continued a dismal run. The week following saw the Arsenal tickets go on sale at the JJB for the last ever game at Highbury.
People queued from the very early hours of the morning. We pitched up at 2.30 am, a mere 6 and a half hours before the ticket office opened! As we got to the front, all hell let loose. We were told we were getting the last 4 tickets; there were 5 of us.
A riot began behind us as I volunteered to miss out and try and find my own ticket through touts etc. The riots continued behind us as we left to see Stuart Hayton, the club secretary, to complain.
The lack of organisation from the “Premiership” club had cause around 700 people to queue up overnight without getting tickets. Questions such as why hadn't we been told how many had previously been sold so we knew our chances of getting them.
Also, why were people being allowed to buy 50 tickets per one person! We were promised that the methods of selling tickets and the promotions would be looked into. Yeah right! To end a dismal week, Latics were stuffed 3-1 at Newcastle, a blinding free kick from Jimmy Bullard being the difference.
Wigan finally got their first home win of the season in April, against
Aston Villa. The Latics came out 3-2 winners, the pick of the goals being Jimmy Bullard's volley on 25 minutes.
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The match brought a fantastic atmosphere to the JJB with Mexican waves and non-stop singing. Latics were rocked by another injury to defender Ryan Taylor in April; the defender had broken his leg for the reserves and would be out until the New Year.
Speculation was also growing regarding the future of full back Pascal Chimbonda. Paul Jewell laughed off the speculation and claimed that Chimbonda had reassured him that he was fully committed to Wigan and had no desire to leave.
Pascal's lying streak begins. Earlier in the season Wigan had unfairly snatched a late winner against Fulham after they had dominated play, well April saw Fulham get their revenge. After Wigan dominated play at Craven Cottage, Fulham snatched a lucky winner.
Oh well, fair's fair I suppose. The week following brought the news that fans favourite Jimmy Bullard would be leaving in the summer to go to Fulham to be closer with his family.
Although he wasn't the best of midfielders his endless effort and total commitment could never be faulted and he went with our best wishes.
Portsmouth came to the JJB needing a win to stay up.
Obviously they were going to get it. A penalty from Matt Taylor and Benjani's first goal for the club saw them win 2-1 and relegate Birmingham and West Brom along with Sunderland.
Check back on Monday for Gregs review of the months May and June!
