Johnson injury mars victory as Wigan slide towards drop
All the drama came after a first half of intermittent sleet and hailstorms and even more intermittent bursts of controlled football. The only vague approximations to a goalscoring chance came thanks to the muscular persistence of the Wigan striker Emile Heskey in chasing hopeful balls into Everton territory.
In a game that got livelier in its death throes, Howard had to make late saves from Kevin Kilbane and David Cotterill, but by then Wigan's fate was sealed and their slide goes on.
The Guardian
Arteta double sends Wigan into relegation Scrap
"Don't think anybody is going to come to Wigan and get a win in any other way," said Moyes. "We wanted to be dogged and determined, we set out not to concede, especially in the first half, and we got there in the end."
Paul Jewell was understandably disappointed. "I thought the match had 0-0 written all over it, and we'd have taken that," he said. "I don't think either keeper really touched the ball until we made a crazy decision to try and win the ball in the penalty area. But that's how it is for us at the moment, we keep making rickets and getting punished for it."
Both managers said they were hopeful of making new signings before the end of the transfer window. With West Brom having accepted an offer, Nathan Ellington is expected to give Jewell a definite answer today about returning to Wigan. That would be a boost, but not as much as the return of the injured trio of Arjan de Zeeuw, Paul Scharner and Henri Camara.
The Sun
Wigan 0 Everton 2
At least boss Paul Jewell — who hopes to sign Fulham's Papa Bouba Diop this week — has not lost his sense of humour.
Looking forward to the free FA Cup weekend ahead, he joked: “I'm happy about it actually because at least it means we can't get beat!”
A lively Latics start saw Emile Heskey flick on for Luis Valencia, who shot into the side-netting via the fingertips of keeper Tim Howard.
But like so many others recently — this was not to be Wigan's day.
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