Blast From The Past - Wigan

[terrierdaz]

Posted by Terrierdaz on bealf of Owd Jim





Town’s Opponents: Wigan Athletic

Complete record is:

League	P	W	D	L	F	A	GD
Home	11	6	5	0	16	5	11
Away	11	4	1	6	12	13	-1
Total	22	10	6	6	28	18	10
FA Cup
Home	2	1	0	1	3	4	-1
Lwr Div Cup
Away	1	0	0	1	2	5	-3

Gates have been:

League	Best	Worst	Average
Home	2013/14=15,576	1988/89=4,225	7,884
Away	2013/14=16,112	1992/93=2,474	6.046
FA Cup
Home	2012/13=12,117	1973/74=9,557	10,837
Lwr Div Cup
Away		1992/93=2,978	2,978

Town first met Wigan in 1973-74 when The Great Slide was in full swing. Town’s entry to the FA Cup began in Round 1 which was long uncharted territory for the blue and whites. In front of 9,557 at Leeds Road Town won 2-0 with Newton scoring both goals. The only other Cup meeting was in the Lower Divisions Competition Round 2 in 1992-93 and it was a disaster for Town who were thrashed at Wigan 2-5 in front of only 2978 people. The first league series was in 1978-79 when Town were beginning their revival. The results were rather poor. A 1-1 draw, Bielby (pen) in front of 5,150 at Leeds Road on 7th October 1978, a 1-2 loss, Robins, away on 17th February 1979.

Town have won three ‘doubles’ Wigan, none. The first was in the promotion year of 1979-80, Town winning 4-0 and 2-1. The last time was in 1991-92 when Town won both games 3-1.

Town’s best win, 4-0 in 1979-80 at home and 3-1 in 1991-92 away. Town’s worst defeat, none at home, 0-2 away in 1982-83.

The last 20th Century games came in 1992/93 when Town lost 0-1 at Wigan, won 2-1 at home (Barnett, Starbuck) and lost heavily away in the Lower Divisons Cup semi-final 2-5 (Roberts, Starbuck)

At the beginning of the 21st Century Town met the Latics for two seasons only, 2001/02 and 2002/03 both times in Division 3 (old money); the results were poor from Town’s viewpoint, a 0-0 home draw and a 0-1 away defeat on both occasions. The Latics were then beginning their rise to Greedy League status.

The sides met next in 2012/13 in a 5th round FA Cup tie when both were struggling, Wigan at the bottom end of the PL and Town at the bottom end of Division 2. From the game it was fairly obvious why both were strugglers but Town turned out a truly woeful performance and was crushed 1-4.

Next season Town went to Wigan again for a league game against the relegated side. Once again Town was caught out at a corner and gave up a goal mid way through the first half. Norwood equalised at the end of the half but stupid schoolboy errors caused problems early on after the break and Clarke, of all people, made the worst letting in the Latics to go ahead 2-1. Despite huffing and puffing Town could not get this one back so went home defeated again. The game drew the best crowd ever for a match between the sides-16,112. 8th February saw the Latics come to Town on a foul day, cold, high wind and sheeting rain for much of the game. Both sides tried to play football but it was not pretty stuff. Wigan missed several chances as did Town but a Clayton goal on 85 minutes saw a vital 3 points for a 1-0 win. Despite the conditions the gate of 15,576 was still the best home gate ever for Town v Wigan games. This made for a good weekend as the Giants had beaten the Warriors away the night before by 24-8.

No excuses, the Town players were awful on Saturday and Middlesbrough deserved the 3 points. Three home games have produced 0-1-2 2-7 which in any book is relegation form. The only positives about Tuesday are that Town is up against a side whose away record this season is even worse! Wigan has an away record of 0-0-3 2-6 having lost away to Bolton 1-2, Cardiff 0-1 and Blackburn 1-3. Added to this is the fact that the Latics have never won on Town turf in the league as shown at the top of this “Blast”. I said the only positives because Town has not won at home in the last 9 games for a terrible record in total of 9 0-3-6 7-18. I expect a poor crowd both because it is a Tuesday night game and because of the rotten effort on Saturday in front of a good paid crowd of 17,993. I cannot see a win in the stars, nor can I envisage a clean sheet despite the fact that Wigan has not scored in the last three games at the MacGalphSmiths Stadium which means they have not scored this century! If Town can cut out the daft errors I reckon it will end up 1-1, if the daft errors are not cut out I forecast 1-2.