Voting was locked for this match at midnight on Sunday 24th February but you may still add your mini match reports. Note that members and non-members alike were able to vote.

Your Wigan Athletic v Ipswich Town Match Reports

PositivelyPortman added 17:24 - Feb 23 Apart from the penalty, the ref gave us f all.
0

Mullet added 19:44 - Feb 23 Ipswich travelled to the DW stadium still rooted to the foot of the table. Tangible hope filtered through an away support, bolstered by free tickets for the young and the improved performance against Stoke last week. If anything, the sense of changing fortunes was mirrored by the changes to the line-up. Deciding on a 3-5-2 masquerading as a 3-4-1-2 of Bart, Pennington, Knudsen, Chambers, wingbacks of Bree and Kenlock, inside them Chalobah and Nolan sitting and Judge free to run behind Keane and Quaner was how Town looked to win away. In absentia from the dugout, Lambert sat on halfway and high up, earpiece in and surveying. Touchline bans seemed no obstacle as the Blues in the orange away kit shone the brightest. Inventive pressure and pressing meant that we had early cause for optimism. Down the right flank, Bree was having time and space to pick out and runners and Nolan burst through to head wide with our first meaningful probe. In retaliation Wigan moved more centrally and their first effort also went behind, thanks to a Bart tip. Town charged down the corner and broke thanks to Judge’s poise. Instinctively, the out of position Naismith earned a booking for bringing down the Irishman mid move. Despite the advantage waved, Town failed to capitalise. If the lead was going to come, it seemed to be from an orange shirt. Town pushed the Latics and pulled all the strings through geometry and neat passing. Into the box from the right flank again, Keane fired wide first forcing a save. It was then the turn of Chalobah who received permission to fire a shot that was made by Keane’s delicate touch. Deflected past the post by the outstretched Jones, the L plates clanked against the bumper and ball against the sidenetting, as the Chelsea kid was unlucky to claim another goal. It was that chance that led to another. Town’s Irish maestro pinged the corner to the back post. Towering defenders and charging forwards all failed to connect with the ball. Instead it was the alone striker Keane who saw it hit his standing foot more than the one he swung towards it. Deflections again denied a clear chance to move ahead. Ipswich were then dealt yet another controversial hammer blow. Town’s shape had been impeccable all game and repelled a Wigan side whose main outlet was also their right back, aiming crosses at lone striker Clarke. Incisive and over the top, that was just the ball from Morsy which sent the striker through towards Bart. In slow motion Jonas, who turned back to cover tugged the striker back with yards and a touch or two to go before he could shoot. Down went Clarke and out came the red card as Chambers went from running back to cover, to running straight at Probert. Ill-discipline? Terrible judgement? Instinct? Defeat? It didn’t matter as the free kick pinged off the wall and out. Town dealt with the corner. In the following minutes it was the movement of Quaner to lone striker and Keane to the left of midfield which redefined our intent. Defending with bodies behind the ball and breaking the next few minutes saw the game turn quicker than any of our creative players. Intelligent runs seem rare from the big German Collin, but he lulled in centre back Dunkley’s periphery just enough to draw him in. Tentative fingers from behind. Impact with the turf from a penetrative run into the box. Disaster for Wigan as Probert knew he had to level things up. It was perhaps a flying elbow on halfway from Morsy, earlier which had so incensed every Blue in the ground. That and the sending off had painted the referee in a suspicious light. In view of everyone, Quaner took the first opportunity he could to reduce the injustice. Dunkley was merely the dummy on the spot which meant the ref had to point to it even if there were some doubts where the foul took place. In the lead, the ball pinged from post to post as Keane fired hard and low from 12 yard. Town celebrated wildly as the home fans matched the weathered, greying surrounds. It was the least we deserved on the balance of play. Doubtful in its origins the goal may have been, but the game was now well and truly alive. Ipswich had looked impressive but imbalanced all game. The presence of Nolan was not enough to stop in the inversion of Pilkington and the overlap of Reece James. In the face of their shearing runs and extra space they now had, Kenlock was struggling to keep the number of crosses down and it was the young Chelsea man who allowed Windass to flick another good chance away from goal when Wigan probably should have scored. Damned by boos on all sides at half time, the referee just shrugged at us and the home team scampered off pretending they were not the intended targets of some of the discontent. In the dressing room, it was not Lambert who would likely be lambasting the Dane unless via Skype. Taylor perhaps relaying praise to most of the team who had dug in and gritted their teeth. In taking the lead against the odds and officiating the away team had stifled Wigan’s fairly impotent build ups. Displays like this are why you travel to games. It was to be the end of Quaner too now, the German had done a lot of running, but little else. Taking the pressure off the beleaguered banks behind him, he was replaced by Edwards. It forced Town into a more spartan 4-4-1 with Keane now taking the free role. Down each flank was Edward and Judge. In the opening attack, winger found winger and then the referee was found wanting. Town pushed down the right and Edwards was about to fire. In from behind the already booked Naismith slid. Down went Edwards, free kick and no leveller from Probert. Insignificant as the foul might have been, those who sat nearby with notepads had tangible evidence that the 12-10 disadvantage needed checking. Town took a wonderful swing from the boot of Judge. Doubling the lead was not likely when Pennington headed with his guts not his brain and blasted the ball wide of the post as if he was at the other end. Indifferent to our plight as they have been all season, the footballing Gods were left unimpressed. Tearing through on goal, there was neither enough room to shoot or enough contact to force a second spotkick. Keane took Judge’s through ball to Jones’ oncoming body but came off second best. Definite as the contact might been, we were not going to strike twice in similar circumstances. Ineffective finishing had kept Town ahead. The centre of the pitch was congested so Wigan passed and planted ball after ball, out wide. In came crosses, but out went shots and headers as Clarke and Pilkington both failed to score when missing was harder. Defenders from right to left earned applause and roars of approval as their captain moved brow and armband in appreciative encouragement. If we were to smash and grab a second then it was around the hour mark where the game pivoted. Town found themselves in acres of space. Infectious running from Chalobah, to Keane, and back out to Judge defined a splendid move. Down past the far post went a curling drive, when a simple shot might have been enough. It was again Judge who cut in from the right side this time. Tipping a curling shot wide, Jones looked at his defenders incredulously. If they had the numerical advantage it was not showing. Despite this, Kenlock lost his man on halfway and Windass really should have supplied the equaliser as he broke into the box, Clarke again somehow missed an open goal from inches not the yards past the post he put the ball. Immediately the changes of Powell and McManaman for Dunkley and Pilkington told us everything. Town has seen Swansea do this in their only victory under Hurst. Turning to extra width and bodies higher the pitch. It was less a system more a mindset that put Morsy as a defending midfielder. Dropping back to make 3 a 4 if necessary, they obviously feared the march of time and orange kits coming their way. In another twist of ill fate, Keane who had put on perhaps his best performance in a Town shirt pulled up. Travelling at pace, he suddenly arced and dropped to the grass clutching his hind quarters. In came Kayden Jackson to reshape our attack and plot a new trajectory for both the service and success of our front line. Devastated, the former Red Devil shared the pitch with his former colleague Powell for barely a minute as he was consoled by him during his limp back to the dugout. It’s common knowledge that the one flaw in Morsy’s game is poor discipline. The Egyptian didn’t so much walk into the book, but flew into the back of Judge in a nasty fashion. Tempers flared, fingers wagged. Deliberate and indefensible was the challenge, but so was the home fans repeated booing at any of our players who needed treatment. Improbable as a win might have seemed. Town were producing some of their best football all season, even with ten men. It was the loss of Keane and then Judge for Downes which really sealed our fate. Demoralised by the combination of pressure and disadvantages coming our way it was the poor touch of Jackson which made nothing stick long enough to curb Wigan’s dominance. Immovable as Chambers and Pennington seemed, Bart too was tipping and claiming everything all game. That was until the unfunny Lee Evans fell over thanks to his own poor touch, and the momentum of our challenge releasing the ball into space. It was the first of two poor free kick decisions which were well taken. Dinking a post-modern wedge-footed effort over the wall and centrally, James seemed to be the one-man team on which home fans relied for parity. It marked a different approach to moment when Morsy had to remove Jackson from the face of Fox. The defender had left Kayden crumpled on the touchline cynically after he and Edwards had moved the ball past him into the channel. Implicit from his body language, again Probert tried to make amends way after the incident, but served only to raise the sense of hatred towards him from the visitors. Dallying before playing on was a common feature. In came Garner for Windass. Toughness for flair. It’s this season where we have been counting the cost of missing Joey’s goals and combativeness. Doubts began to creep in, as the battered bodies of Ipswich could only marvel as Bart plucked a Powell header out of the top corner, instead of out of the net. If a leveller was coming, from who else would it be? Town’s left side had been buttressed, but it was always going to be breached by the impressive James. In came his cross. Down went Garner, header, bounce, hysteria, 1-1. In the six minutes of injury time, Edwards had the best half chance to to seal the game. Trademark, volley-flick and turn. Indecision took the best of him. Downes was charging in, but neither shot nor cross went way wide as with it the deserved three points. Ipswich are relegation certainties it seems. Teams like Wigan would go down most years if it wasn’t for our own catalogue of misery and hubristic self-pity. If all we can do now is laugh at the odds. Death must be made to tremble in taking us.

2