Freddie Sears scored twice and David McGoldrick once as Town eased their relegation concerns by beating doomed Wigan Athletic 3-0 at Portman Road. McGoldrick put the Blues in front in the 22nd minute, Sears made it 2-0 on the half hour and then sealed the three points five minutes from time.

Steven Taylor, Myles Kenlock, Toumani Diagouraga and Emyr Huws all returned to the Blues’ starting XI with the former Newcastle man lining up in a back three alongside skipper Luke Chambers and Christophe Berra with Jordan Spence and Kenlock the wing-backs. Jonas Knudsen was missing from the 18 with a shoulder injury.

Huws and Diagouraga were in midfield along with Grant Ward, Cole Skuse having been unavailable due to the concussion he suffered on Saturday. Sears started up front alongside McGoldrick with Tom Lawrence still not ready to return.

Jonathan Douglas, a surprise starter against Birmingham on Saturday, was left out of the 18, while Brett Pitman dropped to the bench.

Jonny Williams was among the subs for the first time since suffering a shoulder injury in the Blues’ 3-2 win at Wigan in December, while former Blue Alex Bruce was on the bench for the Latics.

As has so often been the case in recent months, the Blues started slowly with second-bottom Wigan having most of the ball in the early stages, however without creating a chance.

But as the game moved towards the 10-minute mark Town started make some headway. McGoldrick and Spence broke into the area on the right but the move ultimately came to nothing.

On 17, with the Blues now beginning to pass the ball around with much greater fluency, Kenlock cut in from the left and hit a right-foot shot wide.

And in the 22nd minute Town went in front via David McGoldrick’s first goal in 16 games since scoring at the DW Stadium in December.

Kenlock caught Craig Morgan in possession on the Town left and brought the ball forward into the area before cutting back to McGoldrick, who stroked his fourth goal of the campaign past Wigan keeper Matt Gilks with his left foot.

Eight minutes later it was 2-0 with the Blues again profiting from a Wigan defender being caught in possession.

This time Sears closed down Jake Buxton in the middle of the Latics half, took the ball off him and fed McGoldrick. The Irish international deftly played his strike partner in on goal and Sears beat the advancing Gilks with confidence to net his fourth goal of the season.

The game was held up soon afterwards as referee Andy Davies limped off and was replaced by fourth official Darren Deadman.

As the half moved into injury time Max Power hit Wigan’s first shot but Bartosz Bialkowski comfortably dealt with the former Tranmere man’s low effort from distance.

Moments later, Taylor was replaced by Tommy Smith, presumably having suffered a knock.

Jamie Hanson hit a powerful strike strike straight at Bialkowski from 25 yards just before the whistle as Wigan put the Blues under a brief spell of pressure.

The Blues were applauded off by their fans at the break after a stress-relieving half. While both goals owed much to atrocious Wigan defending, Kenlock, McGoldrick and Sears had made the most of the two chances with the strike pair both taking their opportunities confidently.

"While Town had been much better than on Saturday they hadn’t created many chances aside from the goals - although Sears had appeared unfortunate to be flagged offside when away on at least one occasion - while Bialkowski had had little to deal with other than the two late shots from distance.

The Latics switched David Perkins for another ex-Colchester man Alex Gilbey ahead of the second half.

On 51 Morgan headed a Hanson freekick from the left into the ground and straight at Bialkowski.

Town’s first chance since the restart came two minutes later when Kenlock brought the ball in from the left and hit a shot which Gilks palmed wide.

Two minutes later the 20-year-old was booked for pulling back Hanson after trying too much in a dangerous area on the Town right and losing the ball. Hanson’s freekick flashed across the Blues’ box but with no one getting a touch.

Town weren’t far away from going 3-0 ahead in the 57th minute when ex-Latic Huws brought the ball in from the left and hit a curling shot which looked to be arcing into the corner of the net until Gilks brilliantly got across to tip it wide.

Sears was first to the loose ball but shot over from a tight angle with both McGoldrick and Spence well placed for a cut-back.

Wigan defender Dan Burn was yellow-carded for a foul on Ward on 59, then a minute later Diagouraga joined him in the book for a foul on Power.

The Latics threw men forward as they looked for a way back into the game and right on the hour Ryan Colclough hit a snapshot on the turn but Bialkowski made a superb reaction save to tip over.

On 67 Town weren’t too far away from their third goal. Huw sent McGoldrick away down the left, the Blues’ number 10 crossed low to Sears but Gilks did well to block. The loose ball fell to Ward but his shot was also saved by Gilks. In the aftermath, as the Blues tried to win the ball back again, the former Spurs man was booked for a foul on Power.

McGoldrick shot straight at Gilks on 76 after good work from Sears and Spence on the right, then Kevin Bru replaced Huws, who again impressed in his first game since returning from a hamstring problem.

With the match moving into its final 10 minutes Power was booked for leaving Ward in a heap and from the freekick, whipped in by Ward, Smith almost made it 3-0 with a powerful header which Gilks did well to keep out to his left.

With four minutes left on the clock Bialkowski made a terrific double save, first blocking from Gilbey and then preventing sub Callum Connolly from netting the rebound from close range.

Town immediately counter-attacked with McGoldrick catching Gilbey in possession on halfway before taking the ball into the area and feeding Sears to his right. The ex-Colchester man’s first strike was blocked by Gilks but he made no mistake with his second effort to claim his fifth goal of the season.

Wigan continued to look for a goal, Bialkowski tipping a long-range Gilbey effort wide, before McGoldrick was replaced by Dominic Samuel for the final few minutes, the Blues’ first goal scorer receiving a warm ovation from the Town support.

Colclough diverted a cross wide before cheers and applause from the home fans at the final whistle at the end of a far less fractious evening at Portman Road.

The game was effectively over once the Blues had scored their two first-half goals and Wigan could do little by try to take the game to Town after the break and but for Bialkowski they might well have pulled a goal back.

However, Gilks was the busier of the two keepers and while the Latics will feel they would have scored but for Bialkowski on another night the Blues might have added to their goals before Sears netted the third.

While the Blues' first double of the season and the overall performance were positives, the game was watched by only 14,661, Town's lowest home league crowd of the century. The last lower league crowd at Portman Road was the 14,514 which watched the 0-0 draw with Tranmere Rovers on November 12th 1999.

The result sees the Blues remain 17th but with everyone below them playing on the night losing now nine points from the bottom three with a superior goal difference ahead of Saturday’s trip to Fulham, who lost 4-2 at Derby.

Town: Bialkowski, Spence, Chambers (c), Taylor (T Smith 45), Berra, Kenlock, Diagouraga, Ward, Huws (Bru 76), McGoldrick (Samuel 90), Sears. Unused: Gerken, Pitman, Williams, Moore.

Wigan: Gilks, Buxton, Perkins (Gilbey 46), Power, MacDonald (Obertan 79), Jacobs, Morgan, Warnock (c) (Connolly 75), Hanson, Colclough, Burn. Unused: Haugaard, James, Bruce, Byrne. Referee: Andy Davies (Hampshire) (Darren Deadman (Cambridgeshire) 36). Att: 14,661 (Wigan: 176).

Photo: TWTD

midastouch added 00:13 - Apr 5 Still in a state of shock that we scored 3 goals in 90 minutes! Before kick off tonight I wasn't even confident if we would get 3 goals between now and the end of the season! So a mighty relief! Well done to the team tonight! 3 points was very much needed indeed! And the other results were more than kind to us. I can go to bed now and sleep much easier! ;-)
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joepublic added 00:34 - Apr 5 Bart was fantastic and Kenlock Freedie and McG caused Wigan problems all night. Unsung hero of the night for me was Diagouraga. He showed exactly how a mobile defensive midfielder can play. Supported the players ahead of him and was neat and tidy with his passing and tried to dominate the opposition. He can do the job of Skuse and Douglas on his own imo. All told it was a good nights work and the Northstand were on top form too!

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GiveusaWave added 01:55 - Apr 5 Thought Bart was fantastic but Spence was a different class. Midfield allowed him to get forward more often and he terrorised the Wigan defence, so MOM for me.
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battyblue added 04:14 - Apr 5 Good win but expected, better line up than the normal more like the team that played well together in February until MM reverted back to type again we are just about safe on your way McCarthy/tc sod off.
5

BrettenhamBlue added 05:46 - Apr 5 Jordan Spence has been a great acquisition, better than we ever expected. BUT he's also further evidence of MM mistaking ability. When he came here the first time on trial he should have been snapped up but instead he was allowed to leave and have trials with other clubs. It was only when we were desperate that we signed him. Reckon Skuglas will return at Fulham.

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Sam added 06:30 - Apr 5 YEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We won a game for once. Well done Mick and the lads. I'm going to my second away game this weekend so hopefully these three points will do us nicely. BLUE ARMY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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therein61 added 06:57 - Apr 5 3 points and positivity on and off the park it reminded me of Feb just keep the same Saturday Mick!! but of course Skuse will be fit and it will be back to normal
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MicksZzzTactics added 07:06 - Apr 5 PROs: A) We Won!!! YEEEEAH!!! For the 1st time in 9 games , and only the 3rd time in 2017!!! B) We scored! Multiple goals even! .... and for a real rarity, by someone playing today as actual strikers?! WOOOHOOO!' :-) lol (A position which once-upon-a-time BEFORE they ran into the dreaded Dino actually was their natural & best position btw!) C) We are 95% ALMOST safe from relegation now! PHEWWWW! (Not yet mathematically of course but very much so practically in my opinion, even in a realistic worst case scenario involving all teams presently below us.) CONs: D) Ehmmm make no mistake about it good Ipswich loving folks, aye that includes especially the sadly quite sizable number of super fickle-minded & flip-flopping fans out there: Both A + B (from among the PROs above) came around today on an unequivocally very very CHEAP background! Promoted Wigan has proven to be a profound terrible team at this level this time around and has been so pretty much all season long. Their defending is often outright atrocious (we have now put an for us under the Dino "astronomical" :-) 6 goals by them in this campaign?!), and not only do they also genrally struggle mightily to score themselves but it certainly helped our cause today that bloody everybody listed as 'strikers' for Wigan (on for instance soccerway dot com) were all on the infirmary! That meant that with small exception of a couple of converted natural midfielders (3 goals) there were virtually no one neither having scored more than the very odd goal this season nor particularly with any record of posing as a "Goal Threat" at this here level anytime in their careers, in their entire 18 man squad today! And even C (from among the PROs above) is to a unmistakable certain degree really only an 'REALITY' now, due to the fact that there luckily are 3-5 teams, with Wigan certainly being one of them, which are & have performed inherently more dysfunctional, more poorly and just a little more "incapable" of winning with any regularity than our Dinosaur led 'proper blokes' here at ITFC! Period! PS: Ohhhh before I forget, aye I gather we did PLAY & PERFORM a lot less turgid, with a thus better and more natural flow & transition from-defense-to-midfield-to-attack, and even to some extent even periodically what can be deemed remotely "exciting"?! :-) WOW! lol .... but besides once again please remembering who the opposition were today!, the additional and much much more profound reason is of course not "Rocket Science" folks ... as exactly as it was on previous occasions, was today , and always will be in the future: Simply because the Dino -- INVOLUNTARILY mind you!!! -- couldn't use 1 or 2 of our precious midfield positions on his beloved "In a different class" favorites I.E. the (in)famous no-need-to-name in general very uncreative side- & backwards- passing "PEDESTRIAN BEHEMOTHS" (or someone very similar in skill & speed to them)!!!!!!!!! Thus this almost premium example of a papering-over-all-them-crackZzz win changes absolutely nothing for me personally, as I thus intend to stand firm (unlike numerous others, sadly!) on Boycotting the reminder of this season, and that's obviously not because I wouldn't love to get behind them "lads", especially if they perform in a manner that both warrants them wearing 'The Shirt' and them getting paid in full!!!, but fundamentally because the clueless, incompetent, ultra deluded & inherently fan-disrespecting MM & ME must be driven OUT our once proud & revered club!!! OUT! OUT! OUT! Yesterday, Today ... and Tomorrow!

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jas0999 added 07:06 - Apr 5 After a week of Mick and players blaming the fans for poor results, I'd like to therefore congratulate the fans for this very rare win! Just the third of 2017 and we are in April! Good result in fairness and reward for selecting attack minded players. Can't get too carried away, Wigan are a woeful side and by all accounts if it hadn't been for Bart would have made the score line more competitive. All but safe now. Time for a change across the board hopefully ...

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tractorboybig added 07:26 - Apr 5 Confused here? Sears used as a striker!!!!!!!!
3

RegencyBlue added 07:40 - Apr 5 Hopefully that's us staying up now but unless there are massive changes on and off the pitch it will just be more of the same next season. For me it's still MM and Evans out!
6

bluelady added 07:40 - Apr 5 Im sorry how anyone can say big Dave was good is beyond me - he totally miss times one tackle and wiped a player out and his "forwards" passing went to no-one every time! That aside a decent performance against a team who looked ok till the first goal went in then confidence just left them. Mcgoldrick and seers worked their little socks off - mcgoldrick close to his best is unplayable but sadly he often has to play too deep to have an effect. Last night wigan made errors at the back that we capitalised on as we were pressing them hard, rather than sitting in our usual 11 players in our own half formation! It's one result but it feels good so for now I will take that 😊

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woohoo added 07:42 - Apr 5 Couldn't get to the game so cannot comment on the performance but delighted with the result - especially happy for Freddie Sears who regularly works so hard for little result. However, one swallow... ...as the saying goes. Will still not be renewing my ST - will wait and see what happens next season.
7

Disco_Inferno added 08:11 - Apr 5 Didn't Darren Deadman play Ringo in Never the Twain?
1

NoelTheDub added 08:12 - Apr 5 No Skuse No Douglas that will do for me, not surprised with this scoreline because of a positive team sheet for a change ok v a very down Wigan.This has to be our starting 11 injuries aside v Fulham but knowing McCarthy I have my doubts.
7

warktheline added 08:42 - Apr 5 Went to bed and slept soundly for obvious reasons, deliberately avoiding McCarthy's rhetoric before retiring! Glad I did, what planet is this guy on, usual coarse language entwined with waffle! Change is required some two years ago! Mick revert to type McCarthy OUT!!!
7

Geoff added 11:03 - Apr 5 Poor old MM had to field his weakened team team due to his favourites being injured,then we go and win 3 0 says it all. The sooner he walks the better and take that useless owner and his puppet with you and make our club happy again.
7

brendenward35 added 11:08 - Apr 5 If Mick decides to drop any of last nights players he should be booed out of the ground on Saturday. Very obvious Sear needs to be played as a striker not a winger. Sku and Douglas are not the class that boring Mick raves on about and Kenlock needs to be playing at left back. His got a team that can win matches and best of all score goals so why change it? personally can see his favourites return on Saturday and we'll either lose of a boring scoreless draw. If he does revert back to the crap team and formation then he deserves all the bad feeling the fans throws at him

7

Lightningboy added 11:15 - Apr 5 What odds on Skuse coming straight back in again on Saturday? Much needed win against a very poor team in 23rd spot - changes absolutely nothing. McCarthy please do us all a favour and go now.
7

essextractorboy93 added 11:37 - Apr 5 Really promising performance, everyone played their part. Lots of contenders for man of the match all over the pitch. Positive! Onto Saturday, COYB!
1

dirtydingusmagee added 13:09 - Apr 5 surprise surprise, a WIN AND 3 GOALS .Pleased to get three points and to see OUR strikers score. Really happy for Freddie Sears, I think McCarthy has given him the sh#tty end of the stick far far too long,im surprised he knew where the goal was .That said we do have to keep it real, Wigan defence was nothing short of a shambles,and Wigan were denied a result by SUPER BART .[player of the year].Think we will now scrape by and survive.Only waiting to see what if anything is going to change re investment and manager now .

4

JimmyP45 added 13:18 - Apr 5 A good win and a much better starting 11 than most games this season. The proof in the pudding with any manager should be the ability to notice a winning side when it slaps you in the face and continue to use that side to win more games. That having been said, how many times over 4 years has Mick reverted back to his old favourites who are all below par and that results in us drawing or losing. Mick out!

5

mathiemagic added 13:55 - Apr 5 Pick the right players and you get a result. Funny that !. Appreciate that Wigan are poor and all three goals were courtesy of Wigan dallying on the ball but you can only beat what is put in front of you. Well done the lads for doing just that. Wigan are all but down and Blackburn are not going to win 3 and draw one out of their last six with us losing all six so pretty much makes us safe i think (fingers crossed). Wouldn't it just be comical for us to win our last 6 and end up on 67 points and for MM to say what a blinding season its been against the odds. You would never hear the end of his "I'm a tactical genius and I told you so" comments.............Doesn't bear thinking about !!! #COYB

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cat added 14:54 - Apr 5 So, the much loathed DINO has finally given the fans a long awaited win, albeit with a rather large helping hand from a somewhat generous and extremely poor Wigan defence. Now that the minor threat of relegation has passed, its now time to look towards next season. As far as I'm concerned the Dino has to go, and I for one will not be changing my opinion under any circumstances. Like I have previously stated, if the Dino is removed then I will buy a season ticket, if not, then it will be the nailed on visit to Leeds and the corresponding home fixture next season and that will be pretty much it, subject to Leeds being in our league of course! So my message to the DINO is simple, "Feck you, feck you very very mmmuuuuuuuccccchhhhhh!!" (Lol) 😂😂😂

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norfolkbluey added 23:34 - Apr 5 What a relief but remember this is an almost relegated team. No Knudsen, Douglas and Skuse. Better out than in. Nice guys but not good enough to be in the town team. Well done the team. One more win and your jobs should be secure for next season. I am still hoping that MM will be sunning himself far away by September. Lets all hope for an attacking young talented manager to be in charge asap.

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