📰 Wigan Athletic 1 - 0 Blackburn Rovers : Match Review
A first home win of the season never felt so good! Nathan Broadhead's second half goal put the icing on the cake of a very impressive Latics performance. Oh, what a night!
A Tuesday Lancashire Derby under the lights of the DW played out tonight, as Wigan Athletic defeated Blackburn Rovers 1-0 in the Sky Bet Championship, securing that first all important home win of our season on the seventh time of asking.
Team Selection
Leam Richardson made three changes to our Starting XI from our 3-1 defeat to Cardiff City, as Curtis Tilt, Tom Naylor, and Nathan Broadhead came in for Joe Bennett, Graeme Shinnie, and Josh Magennis.
Our formation set up was a 3-4-1-2 with Will Keane sitting behind Broadhead in the advanced role alongside Charlie Wyke, who scored Wigan’s only goal last time out and starts for his second consecutive game.
Central Defensive Midfielder, Jordan Cousins, returned to the bench following a lengthy spell out of action, due to a torn calf muscle in a pre-season friendly against Bamber Bridge in June. Cousins was sat alongside Sam Tickle, Bennett, Shinnie, Thelo Aasgaard, Magennis, and Ashley Fletcher
A surprise exclusion from the squad was attacker, Anthony Scully, who looked lively in his 9 minute cameo at the DW on Saturday afternoon. No injuries have been reported, but hopefully Richardson can shed some light on the decision soon. Ryan Nyambe also missed out on a selection again for the second consecutive game.
Although the team wasn’t what I hoped for or expected, I was interested to see how Nathan Broadhead performed in his advanced role with Keane and Wyke. I mentioned in my Wigan Athletic v Cardiff City : Matchday Preview, that I would prefer to see at least one of Aasgaard or Broadhead start on the bench so they can be used as an impact sub once tiredness starts to set into our opponents. We got that today, so I was looking forward to see how this would work for the Latics.
The back 3 for me was a bit of a concern, especially with Nyambe out of the side and James McClean in the left wing back position. I felt going into today that I prefer watching the Irish international further up the field, and I was hoping to see him rested as he, along with Max Power and Keane, have started each of our 13 games this season and must be feeling the effects of that.
First Half
As the game got underway, Blackburn did well to control the majority of the possession for the opening 10 minutes with 60%, however, Wigan looked the more lively of the two sides as we kept our opponents tightly marked and won the ball back well without overcommitting.
Power looked to be the dictating presence within our midfield, finding progressive passes forward to Broadhead and Keane, but also allowing the ball to stay around our defence whilst we waited for space to form up field. Our number 8 ensuring he stayed vocal throughout the half to keep Wigan’s tempo of play up also.
In the seventeenth minute, Broadhead created our first big chance of the night as he cut in from the right hand side and into the area, beating two Rovers defenders, before getting a left-footed shot away to force the save from Kaminski. This is what I like to see!
Two minutes later, Naylor found himself in a bit of space 25 yards out, and tried the attempt on goal from range. It went wide, but I really rate the effort and instinct to try and shoot from there.
Midway through the half, the home side had balanced out the possession stats, but had 4 shots with 1 on target, keeping Rovers from having an effort so far. A couple of times we had cheaply given away possession in trying to play the ball from the back, or failing to clear from feet, but we dealt with the consequences fairly well. Naylor did find his way into the book, however, for a soft clip of the heels on a Rovers man.
With 10 minutes to go to the half, Wigan stepped up their control of possession and pressured Blackburn well. Keane chased the ball down to win it from their defender and find himself with a sight of goal. The effort was taken on the edge of the area and straight at the Keeper, but this just highlighted our progressive nature throughout the half where Latics for sure looked the more impressive of the two sides.
Second Half
Rovers were the first to make substitutions in the game, with Tyrhys Dolan - a player I highlighted in my match preview as a real threat - and Callum Brittain coming on for Ryan Hedges and Sammie Szmodics.
The second 45 started fairly quietly, with the midfield battling for the possession until Jack Whatmough decided he’d seen enough and began the charge from defence to attack, resulting in James McClean being found on the left to swing a cross in. Nothing came of it, however, it was quite the run to watch!
Whatmough had a vital touch in the 55th minute to deflect Ben Brereton-Diaz’s cross from the left away from a Rovers man in the middle of the box, ready and waiting. These moments here remind us all of just how important he is in our defence.
As we crossed the hour mark, Blackburn had possession of the ball in their defence with Keane being relentless yet again in his pressing, winning the ball back and running into the area. Our number 10 went for the chip over the keeper, but the ball was parried into the path of Broadhead who couldn’t miss! 1-0 to Wigan in a fully deserved manner at the DW tonight.
Leam Richardson played his first substitution of the night, as our goalscorer was brought off two minutes later for the introduction of Thelo Aasgaard.
With 15 minutes left of normal time, Blackburn found themselves with 55% possession, but only 2 shots so far and failing to hit the target with any. Wigan had attempted 12 shots with 5 on target, and were still showing energy and commitment well.
What would a Lancashire Derby be without a bit of a feisty challenge, hey? Wyke was brought down on the half way line, with McClean clearly furious that the referee played on, so he tracked back and hacked down Dolan to receive his booking of the night. The resulting free kick was swung into a dangerous area in front of Amos, but Rovers could not capitalise on the opportunity as the ball rolled out for a goal kick.
Richardson replaced Wyke and Keane in the 82nd minute to introduce Magennis and Fletcher into the game to form a pairing up top with Aasgaard in behind. Jon Dahl Tomasson also electing to bring on Bradley Dack for Lewis Travis to help the visitors push for an equaliser.
Frustrations started to build for the visitors as they just couldn’t find a way through with 5 minutes to go. Brereton-Diaz found himself being cautioned for overly protesting every decision the referee made (rightly) against his side. Bodies were hitting the floor all too softly for the officials liking. Play on the correct call throughout.
Four minutes of additional time were signalled at the end of the 90, and Latics could feel the pressure mounting on them. We resorted back to our usually detested “hoofball” just to get the ball away from our box, but when it did come back deep in to our half we dealt with the pressures well. Joe Bennett was sent on for McClean to help see the game out late on.
Despite Rovers late efforts, they could not break through our defence and Wigan Athletic FINALLY won a game at home this season on the seventh time of asking! The Latics really were the much better side tonight, and fully deserved the Clean Sheet.
My Fulltime Thoughts
An easy one for me, I thought we were brilliant! Each and every player on that field for us put in a fantastic shift, and we fully deserved that tonight.
Max Power dictated that midfield so well, and kept all of his teammates focused by being so vocal you could hear him throughout the game. I’m not sure how he still has the energy levels he does after thirteen straight 90 minute games, but long may it continue!
Will Keane never stopped pressuring the Rovers defence when they were in possession, and seemed so much sharper in his decision making tonight than we have seen for a few games. He won’t be on record for the assist in Broadhead’s goal, due to the keeper saving his attempt initially, but his role in the goal cannot be understated.
That win now puts Wigan up to 9th place in the Championship after thirteen games, with 19 points and that all important first home win that we can now kick on from and go into the next games without that cloud over our heads.
Next Up
Wigan Athletic travel to the Stadium of Light on Saturday 15th October, for a 3PM kickoff against last years fellow League One promotion winners, Sunderland.
Up the Tics.
Thank you for reading!
Charlie Keegan / Central Wigan
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