Wolves v Wigan Athletic – as it happened

Afternoon all: Too early for a six-pointer? That's not the verdict of the dozen or so previews I've skimmed through this morning in preparation for this minute by minute. Recent form of both Wigan and Wolves is alarming – Wolves winless in eight games and the Latics losing their last eight in the league and League Cup. Only six goals scored, too, by the visitors in the league, half by Franco di Santo, which may suggest that Wolves's troubled defence is going to get a rare easy ride but their tendency to concede late in either half suggests that it won't be time to get the cigars out and stroll about, as Alan Hansen puts it. Steven Fletcher returns on the bench for Wolves who name an unchanged starting XI with Steve Gohouri replacing the suspended Gary Caldwell for Wigan and Di Santo returning for Albert Crusat. Here are the teams: Wolverhampton Wanderers: Hennessey; Stearman, Johnson, Berra, Ward; Edwards, Henry, Guedioura, Hunt, O'Hara; Doyle. Subs: De Vries, Elokobi, Ebanks-Blake, Fletcher, Jarvis, Hammill, Milijas. Wigan Athletic: Al Habsi; Boyce, Gohouri, Figueroa, Alcaraz; Watson, Moses, Diamé, Jones; Di Santo, Rodallega. Subs: Pollitt, McCarthy, Crusat, Gomez, McArthur, Sammon, Lopez. Referee: Lee Probert (Wiltshire) An email pings in: And it's from Ryan Dunne: "I have a soft-spot for Dave Whelan for selling Glorious Glasgow Rangers merchandise at the JJB in the run up to the Manchester UEFA Cup final, but is it not fair to say that, even extrapolated across the entirety of the Premier League years since Sky's invention of football, that Wigan are, were and always will be the 'least-missed' of all relegation candidates? Ostensibly hated teams are at least conducive to fiery, compelling fixtures (who wouldn't want to see Man U v Leeds or West Ham v Millwall in the Premiership?) but Wigan are, surely, just a big bucket of meh." I've upset Wigan fans before, Ryan, for getting frustrated with the crowd for an FA Cup tie against Hull and I wouldn't want to do that again. I have a great deal of sympathy for their difficulties and admiration for what they've achieved. This has been a particularly troubling start by them, though, and whether you'll be saying "Meh" come May may depend on the next few results. Interesting tactical points courtesy of Alex McLeish: Wolves' problems this season stem from the absence of the thing they did so well last season, knocking in dozens of crosses and winning a very high percentage of the second balls. With Wigan Eck believes their faith in passing makes them vulnerable when pressed relentlessly, opponents gambling that a few misplaced passes between defence and midfield will eventually come their way to be exploited if they can keep the pressure up throughout the game. 1 min: We're off after marking a minute's silence to commemorate Remembrance Sunday next week. Both sides then went into their own huddles. Wigan kick off, playing it back to Gohouri who taps it to Watson and he is robbed then wins the ball back before possession is squandered with an over-ambitious pass that scampers through to Hennessey. 3 min: Great shot on the turn from Edwards, biffed away on the dive by Al-Habsi. The chance was created, a couple of yards outside the box, by Doyle beating and beasting Figueroa in the air from a long diaginal ball up to the left-back. Phil Russell shares his thoughts on Wolves tactical plans: "Loving your photo of Sam the Eagle from the Muppets as the picture for today's game. As a Wolves fan, I am comforted to see Mick has given up trying to play 4-4-2 with 2 wide man, thus leaving a gaping hole in the middle for O'Hara and Henry to chase shadows for the whole game. It does mean however, that we revert to the 4-5-1 that has seen us grind out enough points for survival over the last 2 seasons. Much of the frustration that the meedja are calling the fans out for is bourne of a frustration that after 2 years, we are no further forward, despite the majority of the side that got us up having been replaced with alleged 'Premier Quality' players, and Mick thinking that 4-4-2 is the latest thing for aspiring Premier League sides. Stand by for about 15-20mins of support, followed by increasing frustration from the home fans, especially if we go 0-2 down for the 8th (eighth) Premier League game in a row." 5 min: Two big penalty shouts from Wolves, the first when Hunt goes around Al Habsi and stumbles when the keeper seems to tap him on the ankles as he dives. Hunt stays on his feet and tries to get his cross in. Henry demands a spot-kick off the ref but doesn't get one. The second would not have been justified, Johnson's header at the back post from the corner striking Alcaraz on the hand from three inches and giving him no chance to get out of the way. 8 min: A Wolves free-kick targets Johnson gain, this time he's stationed himself up against Figueroa but good defending from the left-back diminishes the room Johnson can work with to a minimum and he can't get his effort on target. Wigan then go up the other end but the delivery from Jones's corner after Rodallega's deflected shot had won it is awful and hits the first man. 11 min: Harry Tuttle, a Forest fan, would not miss Wigan, for tribal reasons: "I know one club who would be glad to see the back of Wigan - Nottm Forest. Poor Forest have been engaged in an epic struggle to get back into the top flight, and all the while this tiny club from the North West have been doing just that - and with a rather literal interpretation of their badge, too: an Untricky Tree, if you will." But Gary Naylor is far more charitable: "I'd miss Wigan if they went down. They seem well run off the field managing within their means (insofar as any club does) and are managed by progressive football man. They don't have any cloggers and can play lovely stuff at times, if not often over the full 90 minutes. They have hung around for a while now in the Premier League and probably deserve more respect (and more spectators). But I've just been sent a video of Wimbledon 3 Everton 1 and seen the goals for the first time since live on the terrace at Plough Lane. Now there was a club I was glad to see the back of." Me too, Gary. Rodallega strays offside from a deep diagonal cross, right to left, and is whistled when he heads it over from five yards. 13 min: Wolves are caught offside and Wigan then are from the resulting free-kick. So Wolves get the ball back cheaply and Guediora hits a firm cross in from the left that is cleared but Moses is dispossessed and Wolves have another go. They're penalised and the home fans chorus "You don't know what you're doing". The song remains the same but the target is Lee Probert this week. 15 min: Guedioura belives Alcaraz has fouled him with a lunge but Probert decides it was fair enough and lets Wigan continue but Figueroa's long ball up the left flank is overhit and dribbles towards Hennessey. 17 min: "If Wigan do go down, we run the risk of never again hearing Dave Whelan and Stuart Hall duetting The New World Symphony on Five Live - and that will never do," writes Gary Naylor. They could do it live from Barbados, every January. Steven Hunt hits a good cross from the left wing, about parallel with the penalty spot towards Edwards and Doyle. The Welshman gets his head on it, falling backwards and steers it wide. 19 min: Moses sallies forth on a barnstorming run up the right, outstripping Guedioura and nudging the ball beyond Ward before battering in a cross towards the back post that Rodallega can't time his dive to meet. 22 min: And Johnson, who has had two towering headers up front, is less assured with his feet, hitting an easy buildup pass from the back between Edwards and Henry, Moses leaps on to it, sprints forward and after some penalty box pinball, Si Santo is eventually squeezed out with two Wolves players lying on the floor having dived in to block. Then Rodallega has a shot when Diamé moves forward , fed by a slack Wolves pass, but he connects tamely and Hennessey saves easily. The crowd, because of those two gifts, is going berserk at their own players. 24 min: Wigan are starting to dominate possession in the first ten yards of the Wolves' half, stroking it about and using Moses's tricks and pace to make the attempt to pierce the Wolves' midfield's line. It has happened twice so far and looks as though it will happen again. Much chuntering from the fans when Wolves regain possession and Henry goes backwards when he's closed down. He keeps possession but the jeers are very audible. 27 min: Alcaraz goes into the book for a foul after the referee had allowed Wolves the advantage. Moses makes another thrust, looks to play a one-two with Di Santo on the edge of the box, but Di Santo's reverse pass is shockingly heavy and Wolves take the present and go upfield where they're thwarted when O'Hara's pass is intercepted. 30 min: There has been some atrocious defending from Wolves, they look rattled the centre-halves when they've got the ball at their feet and the right-back, Stearman, keeps letting Diamé get behind him. Their offside trap, though, is in better order. Rodallega falling for it every time. GOAL!! Wolves 1-0 Wigan (O'Hara) And Rodallega misses his second sitter of the game. Lovely cross from Figueroa goes above Berra, Roidallega hits it first time on the volley, five yards out with only the keeper to beat and he shanks it wide, when, as the cliche goes, it was easier to score. Hennessey takes the goalkick, Doyle wins the header and then gets past Figueroa, hits a good cut-back cross and O'Hara steers it into the net. In 30 seconds the game swings. 35 min: How quickly things turn. If anything Wigan have been the more assured side, trying to mix up their tactics to use Diamé and Moses to get behind the full-backs from longer passes. And but for Rodallega's woeful finishing should have scored twice. 37 min: Boyce now runs virtually unimpeded up the right, crosses to Diamé and when the ball is knocked down it comes back into the box to Di Santo on the left. His cross is turned into a shot by a deflection from Johnson but Hennessey gathers well on the stoop. 39 min: Misplaced passes from Gohouri and the O'Hara sees possession switch cheaply. Understandably there's a huge lack of confidence from both sides, but in that case surely they should opt for something simpler, the 10-yard pass rather than the 25-yard one. Wigan penalty!! Scored from the rebound GOAL!! Wolves 1-1 Wigan (Watson) The penalty was given when Boyce darted into the box and Hunt barged him over. Watson's penalty was awful. Firm but straight. Hennessey got down to save but could only parry it five yards out centrally. No Wolves player was not on his heels and Watson just stepped forward and tapped it in. 44 min: Now Al Habsi gives Wolves two chances by going for the acrobatic diving punch and parry combo rather than catching it but O'Hara can't get the ball past the penalty box crowd from out wide. 45 min: "Wahey, nice bit of easy Wimbledon bashing," writes Jack Duncton. "I mean god forbid any club is allowed to compete with a small amount of money and mostly players that came up from the youth system. Players like Euell, Robbie Earle, Leonhardsen and Ekoku were good top level players. I forget that since we left the premiership it has been an unremitting feast of top quality games, such as 4-5-1 and teams who buy their way to success." I don't hate Wimbledon for the way you played, Jack. But for the fact we found it hard to beat you. Purely tribal. And for Terry and June, of course. 45 min+2: Al Habsi parries out another shot but gets up to smother the attempt to score from the rebound. He looked very decent last year but his handling has been distinctly unassured here. That's half-time. Half time: Back in 10 minutes. Gary Naylor picks up the gauntlet thrown down by Jack Duncton: "Wimbledon fans are always touchy about any criticism. They did have plenty of good players, especially in defence and, with the likes of Glyn Hodges and, yes, Dennis Wise, they could play a bit too. But they mainly chose not to do so, working the percentages, relying on referees not penalising barging and flying elbows and fostering team spirit through bonding sessions that must have harmed some young pros. That they were plucky, anti-establishment and later eviscerated in the boardroom has nothing to do with it - the Crazy Gang were horrible to watch, some were less than attractive people off the pitch and top flight football was the better for their absence. (Mind you - best game I ever saw was Everton 3 Wimbledon 2)." What to make of this match? Two sides, wholly lacking confidence, making mistakes in possession that keep the other side in the game. Some good players – Diamé, O'Hara, Moses, Doyle – struggling to get colleagues on their wavelengths. I couldn't predict who will emerge winners on the first-half performance. 46 min: Matt Jarvis on for Wolves for Guedioura, who seemed to be struggling with an ankle injury. Wolves kick off, Jarvis stationed on the right, but give the throw-in away from the off. 48 min: Jarvis immediately drifts over to the left, dinks a pass to O'Hara outside him, waits for the return but O'Hara hits a long back-post, curling cross instead that Doyle can't reach. Then Moses cuts in from the right and slices a shot from the corner of the Wolves' box with the outside of his foot that bananas wide. 49 min: Jarvis is staying on the left and dispossesses Moses and wisn the free-kick. O'Hara sweeps it across field to Stearman who takes the wrong option, back come Wigan and Di Santo, in space in the inside left channel, turns and hits a weakish left-foot shot that takes a deflection but the ref gives a goalkick. 51 min: More urgency from Wolves so far this half and Jarvis is working hard to help give cover for Ward on the left. But Wigan are showing commendable industry of their own, hustling and hassling the Wolves man in possession and forcing him backwards to give the crowd the hump. 53 min: Having praised Diamé he makes a rash fould on henry that stalls Wigan's progress up the right. Here's Jack Duncton's right of reply. I feel like Gus MacDonald, after the Brookie omnibus: "Yes the 1980s team was physical and long ball, but its lazy to bracket a Wimbledon style all the way through to 1999-2000. Under Joe Kinnear the style changed, there is no way we would have competed till then if it had been simply the football of the late 80's and 90's. See how relegation came about when Olsen tried to return to long ball. I can name any number of poor teams who were terrible to watch; Allardyce, Stoke, Everton under Smith, Watford, you name them. If anyone does want to move beyond cliche I can lend them my seven deadly wins video from the 96-97 season when we reached two semi finals as primer." 55 min: Moses makes a mistake and Doyle latches on to the ball, veers outside leftwards and spins in an outswinging cross towards the centre of the goal that Henry can't reach. GOAL!! Wolves 2-1 Wigan (Edwards) Henry takes the ball into the box, beats his man on the left with an astute tracking run then cuts back a cross along the ground to the centre of the six-yard box. Hunt shoots with his left foot. Habsi makes a fine save that pops up to O'Hara who heads goalwards. Al Habsi dives backwards to claw the ball away with a top-class save and Edwards taps in the second rebound. 58 min: A rush of blood from Johnson when he lashes out with his leg after a tackle but because he makes no contact he isn't sent off, as he would have been had it found its target. 60 min: You can see why the Wolves fans and Mick have kittens with their defenders as an almighty cock-up from a long-ball almost finds Rodallega in the clear. Stearman cleans up the mess with his late intervention. 62 min: Stearman had a neat triangle going with Hunt and Doyle but his chip over the top of the Wigan defence is cut out and Moses breaks quickly forward. Stearman, though, runs back to cover and saves his blushes with a fine sliding tackle 25 yards out as Moses shaped to shoot. 64 min: Just as they did after their first goal, Wolves have surrendered momentum, allowing Wigan to press the ball off them and not being able to find an outlet when they do recover the ball. Wigan have a corner, taken by Jones, the ball comes back out to him via Moses and he hits a perfect cross into the centre of the goal, arcing away from Hennessey. Perfect in theory but not in practice as Rodallega's dart to the back post meant he wasn't there to meet it. Crusat on for Watson for the Latics. 66 min: Don Goodman just claimed that a cross from O'Hara went into the "corridor of uncertainty" as they call it. Cricket imperialism. GOAL!! Wolves 3-1 Wigan (Ward) Again Al Habsi probably deserved better given that he saved the first two shots after Hunt's pull back from the left byline, Ward's first shot saved, the second from Edwards (I think) also blocked, then Ward's third taking a deflection and spinning into the corner of the goal. 69 min: That goal seems to have settled a few nerves and Wolves have retained the ball much better since scoring it. 73 min: Another top-class save from Al Habsi. There have been a few this weekend from Westwood et al but this one, clawing away a goalbound header from almost behind him when Doyle meets O'Hara's free-kick smack in the middle of his forehead. 75 min: "Hope a certain Wigan player scores on the last day of the season to keep them up. Just for the headline 'Escape from Alcaraz', writes Stephen F. Here's Ian Burch on the Wimbledon v Everton stand-off: "Nice to hear from Everton fans on Wimbledon's approach to football in the 80's and 90's. This from fans of a team that gloried in being called the 'Dogs of War'. They might seem slightly ungrateful seeing as the Dons mysteriously rolled over after being two up at Everton in 1994 to save the Toffees from the drop on the last day of the season." Well, Gary Naylor said it was his favourite match, Ian. 77 min: Wigan are having to take risks and almost come a cropper from Gohouri's back pass but Alcaraz mops up and instigates an attack, knocking the ball up to Di Santo in the inside-left space but he shoots like a fop along the ground and lacking pace into Hennessey's diving arms. 79 min: Double substitution for Wigan, McCarthur and Sammon on for Jones and Rodallega. The latter has looked wholly out of sorts. Martínez said he had suffered a Copa America hangover but was over it now. Not on this showing he isn't. 81 min: O'Hara loses possession and tries to recover it by sliding into a tackle recklessly. He gets booked and Wigan have a free-kick, crossed into the box, which Berra heads away. 82 min: From the second phase ball from that free-kick, Crusat chips it back into the box and Sammon tries to loop a volley over Hennessey. Geometry slightly off but a good idea. Then Hennessey makes a good save at his feet. 84 min: Handbags at the corner when Berra wrestles Alcaraz to the ground. The ref doesn't give it. Ah, not handbags at all as Alcaraz actually spat at Berra after he got up. No wonder The Scot responded with a bout of pushing and shoving. 85 min: Wigan free kick on the left of the Wolves box after Stearman's sliding foul. Moses spins it in to the far post and Hennessey dives to palm it firmly away. 86 min: Sammon hits a left-foot shot on the turn inches past Hennessey's left post in the aftermath of his diving parry from the free-kick in the last entry. 88 min: Wigan are playing well, committing plenty forward and winning lots of second balls when Gohouri and Alcaraz launch it. The ball falls to Diamé in space in the box on the right and he slams his shot wide, missing Wigan's sixth or seventh decent chance of the game. 90 min: Four minutes of stoppage time will be played as Mick McCarthy screams at his players to stop sitting so deep. Al Habsi gets Don Goodman's vote as man of the match and deserves it for four excellent saves. It seems an obvious thing to say but Wigan need a forward to take chances against sides such as Wolves who will give them opportunities to mitigate their defensive frailties. 90 min+2: Wigan corner, looped by Moses long and hard out to Figueroa the left-back 40 yards away. Trying to be too clever given the lack of minutes to get two goals. Full time: Wolves win 3-1 and end their winless eight-game streak, Wigan lose their eighth League game in succession. Wolves up to 13th, six points (with 11) ahead of Wigan in 20th. Wolves were very nervy and at times made daft errors distributing the ball from the back but they showed their character, Henry in particular to set up the second goal, and Jarvis to set up the third. Al Habsi made brilliant saves and Wigan worked hard to carve out chances that better forwards, or ones in better form, would have grabbed. It wasn't a classic but had some very interesting moments. There's hope for Wigan if they can get a centre-forward to get 10+ goals. Without one, I think, they're doomed. Thanks for your emails. Bye.