Yet another dismal home performance saw the Blues to a 3-1 defeat against upwardly mobile Wigan Athletic. Goals from Jason Roberts, Nathan Ellington and Gary Teale put the Latics three-up before Shefki Kuqi netted a consolation for Town.

Tommy Miller recovered from his thigh injury and lined-up in the midfield with Jermaine Wright replacing Fabian Wilnis at full-back. Pablo Couñago and Chris Bart-Williams returned to the eleven after missing out at Coventry last week, Georges Santos dropping to the bench with the Blues moving back to 4-4-2.

Former Town loanee Alan Mahon made his debut for Wigan and received a warm welcome from the Town support when his name was read out prior to the kick-off.

The visitors started as they would go on, and in the first minute Mahon hit a shot wide after a Diallo challenge on Jason Roberts had fallen loose. Four minutes later Ian Breckin shot wide after Jim Magilton had headed a Wigan corner straight up into the air in the middle of the Town box.

The early stages were dominated by the Latics who closed Town down quickly and speedily got the ball forward for fast front pair Ellington and Roberts whenever they could.

Matt Richards saved the Blues from going a goal behind in the sixth minute when a challenge from Diallo rebounded into the path of Roberts, putting him on one-on-one with Kelvin Davis. The Wigan striker went round the Town keeper but Richards was on the line to clear.

Roberts managed to get himself beyond Davis again only three minutes later but from a very tight angle had his effort saved by the retreating Town keeper.

Shefki Kuqi became the first player to get himself in the book on 12 for what referee Paul Taylor adjudged to have been a late foul on Leighton Baines, although, from the reaction of the Finn and the Britannia Stand crowd, there was little contact.

Wigan went ahead in the 18th minute when Drissa Diallo missed a headed clearance from well inside the Wigan half. Jason Roberts got beyond the flat-footed Richard Naylor and ran half the length of the field unchallenged before beating a helpless Kelvin Davis.

The Latics, looking by far the best side to visit Portman Road this season, almost went two-up within a minute. The impressive Gary Teale was allowed to bring the ball from halfway on the Wigan right before striking a shot from 20 yards which Kelvin Davis did well to tip round his post.

Wigan keeper Filan was forced into his first serious action in the 25th minute, but Jim Magilton's strike from the edge of the box was easily claimed.

Just after the half hour Pablo Couñago hit what might have been termed Town's second shot of the game, the Spaniard's effort at an empty goal from a poor Filan kick screwing so wide that the ball was picked up by a defender halfway inside the Wigan half on the touchline.

Town's best chance of the half was headed over the bar by Shefki Kuqi on 32, the Finn doing well to reach Chris Bart-Williams's left-wing cross but unable to keep it down.

It was to prove a vital miss two minutes later when Wigan went two-up. A long ball down the right beat Matt Richards, allowing Gary Teale to send in a low cross which an unmarked Ellington tapped into the net.

Sections of the Town crowd had been on various players' backs and periodically booing since virtually the first minute with the Blues second best to the visitors throughout the half. Matters came to a head when Kelvin Davis took exception to a North Stand fan belting the ball well into the Blues' half after it had gone out for a goalkick.

Davis berated the fan both before and after taking his kick, provoking an angry reaction from some parts of the North Stand, one supporter throwing what appeared to be a shirt on to the roof of the goal.

The incident coupled with the general anger at the performance incited a number of arguments between North Stand supporters, but before the end of the half chants of ‘One Kelvin Davis' rang round the stand.

Town survived one more scare before the break, Ellington rushing his shot when free inside the Blues' box, and slicing wide.

Unsurprisingly, after the worst home performance in a run of dismal displays at Portman Road, boos rang around as the players made their way off the field, presumably expecting a tongue-lashing during half-time.

Joe Royle's decision to replace the chronically ineffective Pablo Couñago and Martijn Reuser at half-time was hardly a shock, Georges Santos and Darren Bent coming on for them and Town switching to a back three of the Frenchman, Diallo and Naylor.

The addition of Bent almost made a difference straight away, the England U21 international laying a ball across the box in the first minute, only for Jim Magilton to loop the ball well over the bar.

On 50 a Drissa Diallo header from a corner was cleared by Teale, and in any case the central defender's attempt on goal lacked power despite being on target.

Jason Roberts and Nathan Ellington had been a real handful throughout and in the 51st minute Kelvin Davis did well to repel Roberts's latest goal-bound effort, a strike from close in to the right of goal.

But a third Wigan goal wasn't too long in coming, Gary Teale, who had given Matt Richards a nightmarish afternoon, lashing a 20-yarder in off the bar, and even receiving applause from some North Stand supporters.

The Blues had Kelvin Davis to thank again soon after, when he dived at Roberts's feet as the Wigan striker again got away from the Town defence.

Latics' keeper John Filan was forced into a rare save on 57, Jim Magilton's well-struck shot not held but Shekfi Kuqi's rebound too close to the Australian stopper. Shortly afterwards Ian Westlake replaced Chris Bart-Williams.

On the hour the Blues pulled a goal back. Jim Magilton flighted a ball between the two Wigan centre-halves and Shefki Kuqi using his strength before poking the ball under Filan.

Kelvin Davis was once again Town's saviour on 64 when he did well to get across to his left and tip Jason De Vos's header from Jimmy Bullard's corner round the post.

The Blues were close to a second goal in the 68th minute when Darren Bent latched on to a Shefki Kuqi flick-on. The striker did well to get in a shot but watched the ball cannon agonisingly off the bar and to safety.

On 72 Leighton Baines picked up a yellow card for a dive just out of the Town area. Ten minutes later the Latics' full-back received his second yellow card for what appeared to be a rugby tackle on Darren Bent.

Three minutes before the end a Jim Magilton freekick arced into the Wigan box but failed to find a Town head, Filan claiming comfortably.

In injury time Shefki Kuqi lashed a ball wide from a tight angle after a freekick from deep had caused an outbreak of head-tennis in the Wigan area. Town also had a call for a penalty when Darren Bent and Jason De Vos went up for a ball just inside the area and it appeared to strike the Canadian's hand.

But a penalty and a second goal would have flattered a Town side which deserved to lose by more than the two-goal margin. Home supporters' patience, already at breaking point after a succession of underpar showings, was pushed even further by a first half display as bad as any in the recent past.

Town's inadequacies — dismal defending once more to the fore — should take nothing away from Wigan's strengths, and on this performance they must be a good bet for a shock automatic promotion to the Premiership.

Roberts, Ellington and Teale were head and shoulders ahead of anything Town could offer in the way of attacking guile for the most part, although Bent and Kuqi improved as the game wore on.

While the defence remains consistently shaky as it has throughout the season with the wide midfielders offering the full-backs little in the way of support. Up front Pablo Couñago has rarely shown anything approaching his best form since returning from injury.

Town, now out of the top six, can afford few more performances like this one and need to put in a run similar to the one which pushed them into the play-off places in the autumn to stand any chance of promotion.

Town: Davis, Wright, Richards, Diallo, Naylor, Bart-Williams (Westlake 58), Magilton, Miller, Reuser (Santos 46), Couñago (Bent 46), Kuqi.

Photo: Action Images

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