Second-half strikes from Alan Mahon and the exceptional Jimmy Bullard earned Paul Jewell’s men their fifth successive win on their first ever visit to Elland Road.
“Pukka” may be the favourite phrase of Jamie Oliver, the public face of Sainsbury’s, but it would have provided an apt assessment of Wigan’s second-half performance yesterday. Jewell, however, is refusing to get carried away. Maybe the wounds of having narrowly missed out on promotion to the Premiership after such a terrific start last season are still to heal, but the manager veered on the side of caution.
This was a meeting of two teams, and clubs, going in opposite directions. David Healy, signed by Leeds from Preston North End on Friday, at least gave the home supporters some grounds for optimism with an industrious debut, but all the talk in the stands yesterday was of the proposed Anglo-American takeover led by Sebastian Sainsbury, the great-grandson of the founder of the supermarket chain.
The Leeds board were due to meet today to discuss the offer, but will only accept the takeover if Sainsbury, who is being backed by the Philadelphia-based Nova Financial Partners, can confirm that he has the necessary funds available. Kevin Blackwell, the Leeds manager, has too many problems to attend to on the pitch at the moment to concern himself with what is happening off it, though.
“I thought we got caught out with a lack of experience on two or three occasions,” he said “We are finding to our cost now that, no matter how many chances, we can’t score. That said, Wigan are as good a side as has come out of the division for the last two years. Whoever finishes above them will win the Championship.”
Wigan failed to register a shot on target in the entire first half, but needed just 40 seconds of the second period to break the deadlock, and how it was worth waiting far. Lee McCulloch picked out Jason Roberts down the left channel, he shaped to turn before releasing Mahon. With the Leeds defence backing off, that was all the encouragement Mahon needed to shoot, and the midfield player let rip with a thunderous effort that was in the back to the net before Neil Sullivan had time to respond.
Wigan had scored more goals in their previous four games (12) than Leeds had all season, so it was no surprise, having breached the defence once, when they added a second six minutes later. Jewell is only too aware of the counter-attacking prowess his team possess, but even he had to sit back and applaud the quality of their second goal. After Healy saw his shot palmed to safety by John Filan, the Wigan goalkeeper, Roberts picked up the clearance. Skipping the challenges of Frazer Richardson, and the on-rushing Danny Pugh, the striker slipped the ball into the path of Bullard, who drilled the ball past Sullivan from an acute angle. Leeds pressed and Simon Johnson and Brian Deane sent headers straight at Filan, but Wigan rarely looked in danger of squandering their lead.