Rotherham United 0 Wigan Athletic 2

The travelling Wigan fans at Millmoor yesterday

The ground was packed to capacity with many fans being forced to stand up due to a lack of seats. Surely there was more than 9,050 on?

The Latics took a good away following again which was pleasing to see and the team didn't disappoint.

Goals from Gary Teale and Jason Roberts sealed the points for the Latics after more than an hour without a breakthrough.

Roterham put in a solid performance and held promotion chasing Wigan for a long time, they even had the better of the game in the early second half.

However the introduction of Teale was a master stroke by Jewell. The out of form Teale arrived after an hour for a quiet David Graham and proceeded to score.

Roberts broke free down the right, got the by-line before crossing low to find a sliding Gary Teale who made no mistake and fired home.

Gary Teale: A return of confidence and form?

The goal raised Teale and his confidence was back, you could see it in his play, he was all over the place, back to the Teale of Ipswich and Preston last season.

Roberts doubled the lead late on. He chased down a long clearance and made no mistake as he held of his marker before shooting past Pollitt who had little chance.

Before his goal however Roberts and Flynn broke two on one and he could and should have played in Flynn for a certain goal but chose to go alone and lost the ball to Pollitt. His desperation for a goal was obvious, thankfully he did actually get the goal his hard work deserved!

Not the best performance from the Latics, but Rotherham were always going to try and stop us playing. It was a professional performance from the Latics who will be pleased to have opened up a six point gap over Sunderland and the chasing pack. The victory also kept the pressure up on Ipswich at the top.

The Manager's Views

Ronnie Moore

"We have lost the game against a team who are second in the league table and they were always going to be a better team than us but I thought we made it hard for them.

"Really we cut our own throats when we tried to take a quick free kick in a stupid area and then we got caught on the halfway line.

"If that goal hadn't gone in it was a bang on 0-0, then the second goal probably summed up our season, there's no doubt about that. Our central defenders have played hundreds of games between them so to get done with an ale house ball over the top was hard to take.

"Wigan had more of the pressure and Polly made one or two decent saves but they didn't have that many chances. The team gave their all as a unit but we were punished for one or two individual mistakes.

"You get disheartened and frustrated at times but you have to keep going and you can't ask for more. If we lose to a better team then you have to live with that as it's part and parcel of being in this division.

"But to work their socks off like they did and then get done in that was so disappointing. If Vernazza hadn't taken that quick free kick it would have been a different story.

"It was a better performance but we lost again and that's what happens when you are down there. You can't legislate for individual mistakes no matter how much hard work you put in.

"Paul McLaren had a thigh strain so he had to come off while Darren Garner got a whack on the ankle that's swollen while Andy Monkhouse had a knock on the back of his knee so it never rains but it pours.

"Things need to be sorted on what road we go down whether I'm here or Joe Bloggs. The players need to know, as we need to be planning whether we stay up or go down. We can't wait for two or three months.

"If they want me here then fine, if they don't then let whoever is going to come in get on with it. We could have two plans - one if we stay up and another if we go down. Everyone need to know what the plans are. Players are worried what is going to happen in May and there is a lot of uncertainty but that's not to do with the results - we lack that bit of quality and that's why we are bottom of the league."

Paul Jewell

"I wasn't best pleased with our performance to be honest but I suppose our best spell of football was in the first 10 to 15 minutes and we looked quite dangerous on the break. However, we were tested by a hard-working and honest Rotherham team, when you come here you have to roll your sleeves up and battle.

"I thought we did OK in terms of battling but we weren't at the races elsewhere. At this stage the important thing is results not performances. When you come here you have to roll your sleeves up and battle, and I thought we did OK in terms of battling, but we weren't at the races elsewhere.

"On the plus side, it's our third clean sheet and third 2-0 win on the trot in the league and it was an important result for us," he continued. "At this stage of the season the important thing is results not performances I suppose, but as a manager you want both."

Championship Results

	Burnley	(0)	0	Reading	(0)	0	11,392
	Gillingham	(0)	1	Plymouth Argyle	(0)	0	8,451
	Ipswich Town	(1)	3	Coventry City	(1)	2	23,670
	Leeds United	(1)	1	Cardiff City	(0)	1	29,548
	Nottingham Forest	(0)	1	Millwall	(2)	2	25,949
	Preston North End	(0)	1	Leicester City	(1)	1	12,677
	Rotherham United	(0)	0	Wigan Athletic	(0)	2	9,050
	Sheffield United	(0)	1	Brighton & Hove Albion	(1)	2	21,482
	Watford	(2)	3	Crewe Alexandra	(0)	1	11,223
	Wolverhampton Wanderers	(1)	4	West Ham United	(1)	2	28,411

Championship Table

Last game played on Saturday 15th January 2005		Pld		Home						Away						Overall						Pts	GD
				W	D	L	F	A		W	D	L	F	A		W	D	L	F	A
1	Ipswich Town	29		12	2	1	30	13		5	5	4	25	23		17	7	5	55	36		58	+19
2	Wigan Athletic	29		9	3	2	30	8		7	5	3	21	12		16	8	5	51	20		56	+31
3	Sunderland	28		8	4	2	24	13		7	1	6	16	13		15	5	8	40	26		50	+14
4	Reading	29		10	3	1	24	8		4	4	7	12	18		14	7	8	36	26		49	+10
5	Sheffield United	29		5	6	4	17	15		8	3	3	22	21		13	9	7	39	36		48	+3
6	Millwall	29		9	1	4	21	13		4	5	6	13	14		13	6	10	34	27		45	+7
7	West Ham United	29		9	2	3	20	14		4	4	7	19	23		13	6	10	39	37		45	+2
8	Preston North End	29		10	3	2	29	15		2	4	8	10	25		12	7	10	39	40		43	-1
9	Derby County	28		5	4	5	23	22		7	2	5	16	13		12	6	10	39	35		42	+4
10	Burnley	27		6	5	3	16	12		4	5	4	7	9		10	10	7	23	21		40	+2
11	Queens Park Rangers	29		8	3	4	22	16		4	1	9	15	25		12	4	13	37	41		40	-4
12	Crewe Alexandra	28		5	4	4	28	21		6	2	7	21	28		11	6	11	49	49		39	0
13	Stoke City	29		7	2	5	11	8		3	6	6	7	13		10	8	11	18	21		38	-3
14	Leeds United	29		5	5	5	19	16		4	5	5	15	16		9	10	10	34	32		37	+2
15	Watford	29		4	8	3	17	12		4	4	6	17	20		8	12	9	34	32		36	+2
16	Leicester City	28		4	5	5	13	13		4	7	3	16	14		8	12	8	29	27		36	+2
17	Brighton & Hove Albion	29		5	3	6	13	16		5	3	7	11	20		10	6	13	24	36		36	-12
18	Wolverhampton Wanderers	29		5	7	3	26	20		3	4	7	14	20		8	11	10	40	40		35	0
19	Plymouth Argyle	29		5	4	5	16	17		4	2	9	17	23		9	6	14	33	40		33	-7
20	Coventry City	29		5	4	5	17	16		3	4	8	19	31		8	8	13	36	47		32	-11
21	Cardiff City	29		5	3	6	15	14		2	7	6	16	21		7	10	12	31	35		31	-4
22	Gillingham	29		7	2	6	15	18		1	3	10	13	29		8	5	16	28	47		29	-19
23	Nottingham Forest	29		5	5	5	17	19		0	4	10	11	26		5	9	15	28	45		24	-17
24	Rotherham United	29		1	6	8	13	23		2	4	8	9	19		3	10	16	22	42		19	-20