A year in blue - 2002 review - January.

Here's how the Latics position was going into 2002.

Nationwide League Division Two 2001/2002		Historical league standings at 5th Jan 2002
		Pld		Home						Away						Overall						Pts	GD
				W	D	L	F	A		W	D	L	F	A		W	D	L	F	A
1	Stoke City	25		9	3	1	24	7		5	4	3	15	14		14	7	4	39	21		49	18
2	Reading	26		8	2	4	21	13		7	2	3	17	11		15	4	7	38	24		49	14
3	Bristol City	27		8	3	2	22	11		6	3	5	21	16		14	6	7	43	27		48	16
4	Brighton & Hove Albion	24		8	2	1	20	8		4	8	1	14	11		12	10	2	34	19		46	15
5	Brentford	25		9	3	0	31	8		4	3	6	16	20		13	6	6	47	28		45	19
6	Queens Park Rangers	26		6	5	2	22	13		5	2	6	16	18		11	7	8	38	31		40	7
7	Oldham Athletic	25		7	3	2	23	9		3	6	4	18	20		10	9	6	41	29		39	12
8	Tranmere Rovers	24		7	4	2	31	13		4	2	5	14	21		11	6	7	45	34		39	11
9	Huddersfield Town	24		7	4	2	22	13		3	4	4	15	14		10	8	6	37	27		38	10
10	Cardiff City	25		5	6	2	22	17		4	5	3	16	13		9	11	5	38	30		38	8
11	Wycombe Wanderers	24		8	4	0	25	10		2	4	6	13	22		10	8	6	38	32		38	6
12	Colchester United	26		8	2	3	24	15		3	3	7	20	28		11	5	10	44	43		38	1
13	Wigan Athletic	26		3	5	5	18	16		4	5	4	18	17		7	10	9	36	33		31	3
14	Swindon Town	24		5	4	3	14	13		3	3	6	12	19		8	7	9	26	32		31	-6
15	Blackpool	26		4	7	2	17	16		3	3	7	15	25		7	10	9	32	41		31	-9
16	Port Vale	26		6	3	4	21	14		2	3	8	9	22		8	6	12	30	36		30	-6
17	Peterborough United	23		6	1	3	23	11		2	3	8	8	21		8	4	11	31	32		28	-1
18	Chesterfield	24		5	1	6	20	20		2	6	4	10	13		7	7	10	30	33		28	-3
19	Bournemouth	25		6	2	4	17	13		1	5	7	9	21		7	7	11	26	34		28	-8
20	Bury	25		4	3	5	14	16		3	2	8	12	26		7	5	13	26	42		26	-16
21	Notts. County	25		3	5	4	15	16		2	3	8	17	27		5	8	12	32	43		23	-11
22	Wrexham	27		4	3	7	16	23		2	1	10	14	36		6	4	17	30	59		22	-29
23	Cambridge United	25		4	6	3	17	19		0	1	11	6	29		4	7	14	23	48		19	-25
24	Northampton Town	25		3	1	9	11	23		2	1	9	12	26		5	2	18	23	49		17	-26

The Latics entered 2002 in 13th place after 0-0 draw with Bournemouth in front of 5,011 fans. The first game was a testing trip to Ashton Gate to play Danny Wilson's Bristol City.

De Zeeuw: 2002 saw him leave

Arjan De Zeeuw partnered Matt Jackson at the heart of the defence with Ged Branan still good enough for a place in the centre of midfield.

I can remember that the Marquee was open at the JJB for this game and the setup there was superb and everyone in there had a superb day, shame about the 2-2 draw.

Lee Peacock grabbed the goals for the Robins in the first 25 minutes and most of the Latics fans were fearing the worst.

However the Latics showed some grit and fight as they pulled the game back to 2-2 with goals from McCulloch and De Vos.

This draw stretched Wigan's unbeaten run to 10 games.

6,203 turned out for the 3-0 home drubbing of promotion chasing Brighton. Three goals from Andy Liddell made up for his failure to hit the back of the net in the City game.

This result put the Latics closer to the pack above them and slowed down Brighton's promotion chase.

10	Colchester United	27		8	2	3	24	15		3	4	7	20	28		11	6	10	44	43		39	1
11	Huddersfield Town	25		7	4	3	22	14		3	4	4	15	14		10	8	7	37	28		38	9
12	Cardiff City	26		5	6	3	22	19		4	5	3	16	13		9	11	6	38	32		38	6
13	Wigan Athletic	27		4	5	5	21	16		4	5	4	18	17		8	10	9	39	33		34	6
14	Peterborough United	25		7	1	3	26	11		3	3	8	10	21		10	4	11	36	32		34	4
15	Blackpool	27		5	7	2	21	19		3	3	7	15	25		8	10	9	36	44		34	-8
16	Port Vale	28		7	3	4	23	15		2	3	9	9	25		9	6	13	32	40		33	-8

Liddell: Got the clubs 1,500 league goal.

19th of January and a nasty trip to Brentford, another side in the top six. Despite this the Latics with a side similar to the one put out against Huddersfield at the weekend just gone, came away 1-0 winners.

Filan launched a long clearance upfield, Lee McCulloch rose to flick it on but stumbled, and that caused confusion in the home defence. Quick as a flash Liddell was on to it, lifting the ball over the stranded Gottskalksson from the left side of the box.

Unfortunately it was going to be a 12 match unbeaten run and the Latics could not get three straight victories. Reading came into town and being firmly placed in the top two they ran away 2-0 winners in front of 5,546 at the JJB.

Greenacre: Former Latics target, now at Stoke

Andy Hughes and former Preston North End target Nicky Forster got the goals.

Next up was an away trip to table toppers Stoke City. A creditable 2-2 was achieved by Jewell's men which helped heap the pressure off the scousers shoulders after a disgusting start to the season.

Teale had caused the home side more trouble on the right-flank before Scott Green took up the ball at the edge of the area and skipped three challenges as he closed on goal, then hit the ball into the corner of the net from 12 yards.

Midfielder Jurgen Vanduerzen split the Wigan defence in the 37th minute with a superb through ball from Marc Goodfellow who took the ball just inside the area and coolly slotted it past the advancing keeper into the corner of the net for Stoke's equaliser.

Teale crossed from the right and midfielder Tony Dinning charged into the penalty area before hitting the ball home from six yards.

Arjan De Zeeuw fouled Dadason in the area as he moved onto a pass from Marc Goodfellow. The Stoke striker got to his feet and took the penalty kick himself, making no mistake sending the keeper the wrong way with his left-footed spot-kick.

This meant that the table at the end of January looked like this.

Nationwide League Division Two 2001/2002		Historical league standings at 26th Jan 2002
		Pld		Home						Away						Overall						Pts	GD
				W	D	L	F	A		W	D	L	F	A		W	D	L	F	A
1	Reading	30		10	2	4	27	13		9	2	3	20	11		19	4	7	47	24		61	23
2	Brighton & Hove Albion	28		9	2	1	24	11		5	8	3	16	19		14	10	4	40	30		52	10
3	Bristol City	29		8	3	3	23	14		7	3	5	23	17		15	6	8	46	31		51	15
4	Stoke City	29		9	4	2	26	10		5	5	4	16	17		14	9	6	42	27		51	15
5	Brentford	29		10	3	1	35	9		4	3	8	17	23		14	6	9	52	32		48	20
6	Huddersfield Town	29		9	4	3	25	15		4	5	4	18	16		13	9	7	43	31		48	12
7	Queens Park Rangers	30		7	6	2	26	14		6	2	7	17	19		13	8	9	43	33		47	10
8	Oldham Athletic	30		9	4	2	31	13		3	6	6	22	27		12	10	8	53	40		46	13
9	Tranmere Rovers	27		8	5	2	32	13		5	2	5	15	21		13	7	7	47	34		46	13
10	Cardiff City	28		6	6	3	24	19		5	5	3	17	13		11	11	6	41	32		44	9
11	Wycombe Wanderers	28		9	4	1	28	11		2	5	7	13	24		11	9	8	41	35		42	6
12	Colchester United	30		8	2	4	25	17		3	4	9	21	33		11	6	13	46	50		39	-4
13	Port Vale	30		8	3	4	26	17		3	3	9	12	26		11	6	13	38	43		39	-5
14	Wigan Athletic	30		4	5	6	21	18		5	6	4	21	19		9	11	10	42	37		38	5
15	Swindon Town	29		6	4	4	16	15		3	5	7	15	24		9	9	11	31	39		36	-8
16	Peterborough United	27		7	2	3	27	12		3	3	9	10	22		10	5	12	37	34		35	3
17	Chesterfield	27		6	1	7	25	24		3	6	4	12	14		9	7	11	37	38		34	-1
18	Blackpool	29		5	7	3	21	20		3	3	8	15	28		8	10	11	36	48		34	-12
19	Bournemouth	29		6	2	5	19	16		1	7	8	16	29		7	9	13	35	45		30	-10
20	Bury	29		4	4	6	14	17		4	2	9	13	29		8	6	15	27	46		30	-19
21	Notts. County	29		3	5	5	16	19		3	3	10	19	31		6	8	15	35	50		26	-15
22	Northampton Town	28		4	2	9	13	24		3	1	9	15	27		7	3	18	28	51		24	-23
23	Wrexham	30		4	5	7	18	25		2	1	11	15	39		6	6	18	33	64		24	-31
24	Cambridge United	28		5	6	4	19	21		0	1	12	9	33		5	7	16	28	54		22	-26

Croft: Came on loan before his move to Cardiff

Also in January of this year the Latics were linked with Chris Greenacre of Mansfield Town. Nothing came of this deal and he left for Stoke City on a bosman at the end of the season.

Gary Croft came in on loan from Ipswich Town. The deal never became perminant and Croft left for Cardiff, also at the end of the season.

Then fourth-choice striker Neil Roberts was sent to Hull on loan, who didn't want the striker! Roberts has since established himself as a first team regular at the JJB and his loan days are a thing of the past.

Keep an eye out for February's review, coming soon.