Wigan Athletic 1 West Ham United 2

Unfortunately referee, Mr H Webb from Yorkshire had a strong influence on the game. It was to hinder the Latics.

West Ham centre back Thomas Repka had been booked in the first half after presistantly fouling Latics striker Neil Roberts, when in the second half he hacked down Nathan Ellington from behind.

Andy Liddell: Missed

Mr Webb then bottled it and did not send the player off, he did not even speak to him. Shortly after the level-headed Hammers manager Alan Pardew subbed Repka off for Scottish international Christian Dailly.

He also falied to award the Latics a deserved penalty. Jason De Vos was tangling with Pearce in the area which led to the referee having a word with both players. The corner then came in from Bullard and De Vos was pulled down as he challenged for the ball and Mr Webb again bottled it, letting the 'bigger' club off.

Anyway, despite the poor refereeing our defending at times left something to be desired. Jason De Vos did not seem at all comfortable on the floor with Connolly and he got the slip on a number of occasions. Breckon struggled equally as bad, as was displayed with Connolly's solo effort for West Ham's second goal.

The only Wigan Athletic defender to come out of the game with any credit is young full-back Leighton Baines. He was first to ever loose ball, he made important tackles, he played some superb balls into our forwards and showed why Paul Jewell is not scared of throwing him in at the deep end.

The forward play on the other hand was either terrible or unlucky depending on which way you look at it.

Jason Jarrett: Missed

Ellington, McCulloch and Roberts were all guilty of missing good chances. First chance was for Nathan Ellington who produced a superb header 18 yards out from Gary Teale's cross and brought a good saves from England goalkeeper David James, who proceeded to spill the ball into the path of Lee McCulloch. The Scottish forward then hammered the ball into the legs of James when perhaps a little 'dink' would have lifted the ball over the 'keeper and into the back of the net. Wigan were very unfotunate not to take the lead.

Early in the second half and Ellington had another chance, he was given the ball on the corner of the area with just James to beat, the ball bobbled wide of the 'keepers left hand post. However both Teale and Roberts were adamant that it sould have been a corner, not to be.

Not long after and Teale broke free down the right, he got to the by-line and pulled back a fast ball to Roberts who hit his volley into the ground and up over the bar. This was either a glaring miss or he was very unlucky, I think it depends where you were sat in the ground yesterday!

The Latics did manage to get a goal on the other hand, but it did come from a Hammers defender. A long ball upfield was miss-judged by Pearce who flicked th ball into De Vos' path, who took the ball to the goal-line and cross from just inside the area. The ball pitifully bobbled behind Ellington at the front post before landing at the feet of Quinn who with Neil Roberts 5 yards behind him placed the ball into the top corner of his own net. David James did not looked impressed!

Leighton Baines: Our best player

West Ham however had their fair share of chances, though many came as a result of our poor defending rather than craft from West Ham.

Connolly was the major danger with his pace and skill, while Harewood was suprisingly quiet after some impressive performances against Wigan already this season.

A mistake by De Vos allowed Connolly to bear down on the home goal but the Wigan defence recovered to spare their Canadian captain's embarrassment. Connolly passed up an even better chance when he flicked an Matthew Etherington cross on to the Wigan woodwork in the dying stages of the first half.

The goals were down to mistakes again this week. The opener from Mullins was annoying more than anything. Jimmy Bullard failed to get hold on the ball in the middle of the field and he flicked the ball into the hole between defence and midfield where Connolly picked it up. Breckin then got dragged forward to Connolly leaving a hole in behind him, where Neil Mellor had taken up residance. Connolly hit the ball forward to Mellor who just laid the ball off for Mullins who had stormed from midfield without a Wigan short following him. He took a touch before sliding the ball past stranded goalkeeper John Filan.

Gary Teale: Dangerous down the right

The second Hammers goal was even more upsetting. A hopeful punt forward was chased by Connolly who broke into the area. Eaden casualy trotted back before watchign the Irish striker cut inside him with Breckin also committing himself in the same turn. The forward ran across the area before dropping his shoulder and leaving Breckin on his bottom inside the area. Jackson decided to run back onto the goal-line instead of challenging the striker who just picked his spot and fired his shot into the corner of the net.

It was upsetting that we have displayed such poor defending late on in the game again. The defeats to Reading and Rotherham in the recent home games saw the away sides score similar goals to yesterday in the final stages of the games. This needs curing, because everything else with the squad seems fine.

Maybe it's a result of fatigue in the small squad, what do you think, let us know. Click here.

Manager Comments

Paul Jewell - "I thought we deserved to win today but we haven't, we paid the price of not taking some guilt edged chances. Obviously we are downbeat because we got beat, but I am delighted with the performance. The only thing missing was a couple of goals which would have been merited, but when you are playing against a side with the quality of West Ham, you are always likely to get done if you don't take the chance, and that is exactly what happened.

"We've still got to score goals. It's the same old problem, we create chances but we don't kill teams off, and it's my job to do something about it. Don't get me wrong we are not sixth in the lead because we are not a good side, but you have to take your chances.

"It was a difficult pitch to try and play football on, the first half was even steven, the atmosphere was good in the ground, in the first minute of the second half we should have scored a goal.

"I am trying to get one or two more players in before the Milwall game, but it's not proving easy. Hopefully we will have Andy Liddell ane one or two others back this week too."

Wigan team sheet

Filan 5 Had a quiet afternoon but still managed to let two goals in.
De Vos 3 Terrible when defending, but lethal from set pieces going forward.
Eaden 4 An average performance, was partly to blame for West Ham's second goal.
Breckin 3 Possibly at fault for the first goal, couldn't cope with Connolly for the second.
Baines 7 I felt the youngster was by far our man-of-the-match. (Jackson 84)
Mitchell 5 Did the simple things right, looked short of match sharpness that comes with games.
Bullard 5 Gave the ball away for West Ham's opener, but is one of the only players who trys to create opening's goaing forward.
Ellington 6 Had to feed off scraps again today, and he works very hard.
Teale 6 Why do we not use Teale more? He gets good service into the box regularly and has lightening pace.
McCulloch 5 A bit quiet for me, seemed to be playnig on the edge of the game.
Roberts 5 Missed a good chance from Teale's cross and seemed to be another one on the edge of the game.

Subs: Walsh, Dinning, Flynn, Vieira.

West Ham team sheet
James, Mullins, Pearce, Quinn, Stockdale, Repka (Dailly 51), Etherington, Carrick, Horlock (Hutchison 46), Connolly, Harewood (Mellor 78). Subs: Bywater, Cohen.

Attendance: 11793

Wigan scorers and times: Quinn(90 og).

West Ham scorers and times: Mullins(80), Connolly(85).

External Reports

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