Ipswich Town 2-0 Wigan Athletic - Half-Time Tuesday, 4th Apr 2017 20:46 Goals from David McGoldrick and Freddie Sears have given the Blues a 2-0 half-time lead over Wigan Athletic at Portman Road. 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. Freddie Sears started up front alongside David 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 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. Town: Bialkowski, Spence, Chambers (c), Taylor (T Smith 45), Berra, Kenlock, Diagouraga, Ward, Huws, McGoldrick, Sears. Subs: Gerken, Pitman, Bru, Williams, Moore, Samuel. Wigan: Gilks, Buxton, Perkins, Power, MacDonald, Jacobs, Morgan, Warnock (c), Hanson, Colclough, Burn. Subs: Haugaard, James, Gilbey, Obertan, Connolly, Bruce, Byrne. Referee: Andy Davies (Hampshire) (Darren Deadman (Cambridgeshire) 36).
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