Town and Wigan played out a disappointing 0-0 draw at a snowy Portman Road. Jay Tabb had the best chance for the Blues in the first half, while David McGoldrick and sub Freddie Sears had opportunities after the break, but overall a goalless draw was a fair reflection of a drab game.
McGoldrick’s return from his knee injury in place of Daryl Murphy, who has a calf strain, was Town’s only change from the team which lost 3-2 at Brighton 10 days ago.
The Town number 10 who had missed the previous two games, was partnered by Noel Hunt with recent signing on the bench.
The visitors carved out the game’s first chance in the fifth minute when Don Cowie sent James Perch away on the right and the ex-Newcastle man whipped over a cross which Marc-Antoine Fortune headed high and wide at the near post when he ought to have done better.
Town created their first opening a minute later, McGoldrick, skipper Luke Chambers and Paul Anderson exchanging passes on the right before the winger sent in a cross which Tabb was unable to head towards goal.
After Tommy Smith had eventually dealt with a difficult bouncing ball ahead of James McClean, Kevin Bru just overhit what would have been a superb pass into the path of McGoldrick.
On 14 Tyrone Mings fed in Tabb on the left of the area but the midfielder hit powerfully over when he should have played the ball across the six-yard box to the waiting Hunt, McGoldrick and Anderson.
The game developed into a scruffy affair on a pitch which was cutting up with neither side able to create much but with Wigan having the upper hand. Town were very much missing Murphy’s aerial presence up front with high balls regularly punted forward but defended comfortably by the Latics’ backline.
As the match moved towards the half hour mark snow began to fall steadily and the Blues managed a couple of shots. First McGoldrick hit a deflected effort through to Ali Al Habsi in goal for the Latics, then Hunt’s strike flew high and wide from distance.
Moments later, Smith was yellow-carded for a foul on Martyn Waghorn, then Wigan’s William Kvist joined him in the book for a challenge on Bru. Five minutes before the break McClean picked up a caution for tripping the breaking Bru.
Tabb headed Hunt’s right-wing cross to Al Habsi in the 43rd minute but neither side looked like breaking the deadlock as a dull half came to a close with the snow by now falling more heavily.
Under par Town, who were clearly missing Murphy, had been unable to create anything of note, Tabb’s opportunity just before the quarter hour when he should have passed rather than shot perhaps the best of them.
Wigan had similarly failed to significantly test Bartosz Bialkowski - Fortune’s early header was their best chance - in a forgettable first period in which there had been little between the teams, despite the Blues’ presence in the top four and Wigan’s current position second-bottom.
The Blues switched Anderson for Teddy Bishop at the start of the second half with the snow having momentarily subsided.
Nine minutes after the restart, Bishop, who had made an immediate impact going forward on the right, found Cole Skuse to his left, the central midfielder playing a ball in behind Perch to Mings, but the left-back’s cross was blocked.
Tabb felt he had been impeded as he broke into the area but referee Charles Breakspear, who had frustrated the home fans and players with a few decisions before the break, waved away his protests.
The game continued in the same less than inspiring manner of the first half with the snow having resumed. Just after the hour, Fortune cut in from the right but scraped his shot well wide.
The Latics went closer on 62 when Perch flicked Cowie’s left-sided corner from the left beyond the far post when he should have scored.
Three minutes later, with Wigan looking the side most likely to break the deadlock, home debutant Sears took over from Hunt.
Town carved out a rare opportunity on 72 when Mings crossed from the left but McGoldrick headed weakly to Al Habsi.
As the match moved towards its final 15 minutes Tabb flicked a header into McGoldrick’s path on the left and the striker did well to cut it back to Sears, who could only divert straight at Al Habsi at the near post.
The Blues were starting to look a bit more of a threat, but on 79 Berra cut out McClean’s dangerous cross from the left ahead of Fortune.
A minute later, Emyr Huws was booked for blocking off McGoldrick as Town broke. From the freekick deep on the left, McGoldrick headed Tabb’s ball wide. Jonny Parr replaced Tabb at left midfield for the final six minutes.
Two minutes before the end Sears had the ball in the net but having been flagged offside, although with the Town players complaining that the ball had been played into his path by a Wigan player.
After three minutes of uneventful injury time referee Breakspear confirmed Town’s first home 0-0 draw since the Blackpool game last February with frustrated boos greeting the whistle.
In truth the game didn’t really deserve a goal with both sides as poor as one another. Neither keeper was forced to make a serious save in either half.
After the break, Wigan probably should have scored through Perch’s header, while Town, who never put the struggling visitors under any real pressure, came closest via McGoldrick’s header straight at Al Habsi and Sears’s effort which the former Colchester man couldn’t divert away from the keeper.
Overall, a disappointing result for the Blues against struggling opposition, who battled gamely but showed little quality. Town remain fourth but are now three points behind leaders Bournemouth and Derby and two behind third-placed Middlesbrough with all three having a better goal difference.
After one win in six games in all competitions, the Blues need to get their stalling promotion challenge back on track with a win away against Rotherham, another of the teams at the wrong end of the table, next Saturday.
Town: Bialkowski, Chambers (c), Mings, Berra, Smith, Skuse, Bru, Anderson (Bishop 46), Tabb (Parr 84), McGoldrick, N Hunt (Sears 65). Unused: Kenny, S Hunt, Clarke, Ambrose.
Wigan: Al Habsi, Taylor, Perch, Barnett, Ridgewell,Huws, Kvist, McClean, Cowie, Fortune, Waghorn (McKay 78). Unused: Carson, Boyce, Pearce, Kiernan, Cosgrove, Flores. Referee: Charles Breakspear (Surrey). Att: 19,155 (Wigan: 225).