Wigan will no doubt point to nine changes to the starting line up from Tuesday but eight of today’s starting line up have been regular first teamers during Martinez’s reign and when they should have used today to press for Premier League starting roles, they turned in a performance that was negative, sterile and soulless and an embarrassment to the Premier League as a whole and their long suffering travelling supportin particular who quite rightly had to endure chants of “Premier League you’re having a laugh “ from the jubilant home support.

As expected Swindon started off like an express train, trying to put Wigan’s defence under pressure and within a minute they had the first corner of the game but Wigan managed to clear the ball comfortably.

For Wigan, Watson appeared to be the fulcrum of every move, unfortunately this wasn’t one of his better days, as his slow methodical approach was knocked off its stride by the enthusiastic way Swindon closed Wigan down. He could not have been helped by the strange decision to play without a player on the right hand side of midfield, with right back/wing back Emerson Boyce the only player on that side of the pitch . This meant most of Wigan’s play was directed to the left hand side of the pitch where youngsters Mustoe and McManaman, who were the best players in a Wigan shirt strived to drive the team forwards, McManaman in particular showing the qualities which give the promise of a bright future in the game.

Swindon were far from over-awed however and had two good chances to take the lead, the first when Al Habsi saved well from Murray and the second when a shot seemed to take a deflection and narrowly miss the far post with Al Habsi stranded.

Wigan as usual tried to pass the ball out of defence and seek a gap in the Swindon defence but these were few and far between and Di Santo cut an increasingly lonely figure up front for Wigan as he was not for the first time this season deprived of any quality ball from a defence minded central midfield.

Wigan surprisingly took the lead when McManaman went on one of several lovely jinking runs, he appeared to go down very easily in the penalty area but Mr Walton had no hesitation in pointing to the spot and Wigan had a penalty.

Watson stepped up to take the shot and hit the left hand post, thankfully his blushes were spared by the ever alert McManaman who follwed up and scored the rebound to give Wigan an undeserved lead.

Any thoughts that Swindon would wilt were quickly displaced as they continued to press forwards, passing through the Wigan midfield as if it didn’t exist and they nearly equalised when AL Habsi produced a magnificent save to turn Richie’s goalbound shot around the post for a corner.

The respite was short lived however when Connell stole a march on the Wigan defence producing  a glancing header  which beat Al Habsi to the delight of the partisan and passionate home support.

The second half saw Swindon increase the pressure on Wigan and saw Swindon have a good penalty shout turned down.Wiganlooked ragged with very little cohesive play from the Premeir League club and Thomas who had an absolutely awful game can consider himself lucky not to be sent off for a second bookable offence when Mr Walton decided to wave play on rather than award the free kick.

Martinez opted to remove the Honduran shortly afterwards replacing him with the mercurial Gomez and for a while Wigan looked better, with Gomez linking well with Watson and trying to set Maloney and Di Santo through. Wigan’s attacking prowess was so poor however that they couldn’t produce a single effort on target in the whole of the second half a statistic which will worry the manager whose side are the lowest goalscorers in the Premier League.

This momentum faded and when Maloney collapsed near the half way line in obvious pain,Swindon pressed and a long range shot took a massive deflection , wrong footing Al Habsi and Swindonwere in the lead.

Claims that the deflection was from an offside player may be valid but no one could complain that Swindon didn’t deserve their lead.

Wigan brought Moses on to try and spark some life into their game but the 93^rd minute still found them passing the ball around in their own half totally devoid of ideas in how to break down the home sides gallant defence and Di Canio’s men celebrated a well deserved victory leaving the Wigan fans with a long journey home with once again the inglorious title of being the biggest scalp in the third round of the F.A.Cup.

WiganTeam

Al Habsi…5 one good save some awful kicking, rightly booked

Boyce……5  Looked rusty after so long out

Caldwell…6 Tried hard.

Lopez…….5 Looked off the pace

Mustoe……6 Enthusiastic

McArthur…5 Ineffective

Watson……5.5 tried hard but too slow

Maloney…..5 Ineffective

Thomas……3 Awful, only meaningful contribution was getting booked

McManaman..7 Man of the match for Wiganby a mile

Di Santo……5 starved of possession  once again

Subs

Gomez…..5.5 Didn’t influence the game as hoped

Moses……5 didn’t look fit

Sammon….came on in 89^th minute little chance to do anything

Att   13,238

Worzel

It was reported today in the West Country that 13,000 Swindon fans have bought tickets for this Saturday’s FA Cup 3^rd Round tie against Wigan Athletic, an increase of more than 70% on their usual home gate and just under 5,000 less than Wigan Athletic get for a Premier League home game.

It’s pay on the day for Wigan Athletic fans who have sold their initial allocation of 500, described as pathetic by this website here – although I happen to think that’s a pretty good following to travel 200 miles to watch our reserves get walloped.

Let’s be honest here – this game is a minor distraction for Wigan Athletic fans whereas this is Swindon’s cup final, as evidenced by their ticket sales. Swindon Town appear to be pulling in thousands of fans who probably haven’t been to see their team all season and are only showing their face because they have a glamour game featuring Wigan Athletic, a team of seven years in the Premier League are coming to town.

It would be easy to mock Swindon’s home support, having an average of only 7,886 compared to Wigan Athletic’s average which is nearly 10,000 higher at 17,661 but we won’t because we know that it’s not how many fans you get through the turnstile, it’s the quality which counts. We are a small club from a small town (and at 155,432 the population of Swindon is nearly twice the size of the town of Wigan, nor is Swindon not anywhere near four of the modern giants of the game as Wigan is)

No, we should applaud they can get a home league gates nearly half the size of Wigan in their town which is nearly twice the size of Wigan because they are a fourth tier club and are resurgent under right wing lunatic Paulo Di Canio. I mean if Swindon were a Premier League club they’d get miles more watching that than 17,661 every week wouldn’t they?

What’s that? They were a Premier League club? And they only averaged 15,274? Oh dear attendance monkey that’s not very good is it? And they have the cheek to call us pathetic? I wouldn’t be mouthing off about crowds if I was a Swindon fan. Still as I say it’s their cup final…..

Probably / possibly we will be playing at The County Ground on Saturday 7^th January 2012 with a 3pm kick-off.

Swindon Town are aiming to reach the fourth round stage for the first time since 1996 after an impressive first round win over Huddersfield Town 4-1 then Colchester United 1-0 in round two.

The last time the two teams met was in January 2003 with the Robins running out 2-1 winners thanks to goals from Danny Invincibile and Andy Gurney with in front of 5,238 spectators.

Lee McCulloch replied for Latics, however this was only our third defeat in the league after twenty eight games and only one more loss would occur until the end of our title winning season came at home to The Pilgrims 1-0.

The Robins manager Paolo Di Canio commented about the prospect of the draw …..

“I am very happy with the draw and I hope our fans come to The County Ground and we can have a big crowd.

Wigan Athletic  are a Premier League team and it will be good to see them at The County Ground, it will be good for the club and good for the fans and I can’t wait for round three day to come around.

We will do everything to make the day special, it is the FA Cup and sometimes dreams can come true, there are many games to play before the FA Cup and we must not lose our focus, but I hope we can fill The County Ground when Wigan Athletic come here.”

The live television games are as follows . . . . .

Saturday 7 January

Birmingham City v Wolverhampton Wanderers (12.30pm) – Live on ESPN
Bristol Rovers v Aston Villa (5.30pm) – Live on ESPN

Sunday 8 January 2012

Manchester City v Manchester United (1.00pm) – Live on ITV1
Peterborough United v Sunderland (3.30pm) – Live on ITV1

Monday 9 January 2012Arsenal v Leeds United (7.45pm) – Live on ESPN

The draw for the Fourth Round Proper will follow this tie at approx 5.30pm on ITV1

Tie of the round for me is Wrexham v York City, first against third in the Conference, however the Budwiser FATV match is the North East derby between Gateshead who are sixth in the Conference and a team five leagues below them Hebburn Town.

Six Blue Square Premier  teams will go out at this stage but on the upside for the Conference at least six will go through to the first round proper.

The full draw  for all the other games being played this Saturday 30^th October.

Roy, who was born in Enniskillen on 30th September 1977 started his career with Fivemiletown United and Ballinamallard United in his native Northern Ireland before signing for Hull City as a trainee in September 1995.  By the time he had made 46 league appearances for the Tigers he was a very hot prospect for the future but the club was in dire financial straits at the time, so Latics took advantage of the situation and signed him for a fee £350,000 on 30th March 1997, a record signing for the Blues at the time. 

Being signed after the transfer deadline meant that he was unable to play for the remainder of the season, but during the following season (1997/98) he made 29 League appearances, becoming the automatic number one at the expense of Lee Butler. He made his Latics League debut, along with Paul Warne, on 30th August 1997 against Bristol City at Ashton gate and Latics were beaten 0-3. Little did he think then that he would be part of the team that won the Third Division championship. 

The final season that the club spent at Springfield Park (1998/99) saw him make 43 League appearances and become established in the Northern Ireland squad. His domestic honours list also grew as he added an Auto Windscreens Shield winners medal to his modest collection. 

During the first season at the JJB Stadium (1999/00) he made 34 League appearances before being ruled out of the last four weeks of the regular season due to contracting appendicitis. On 30th April 2000 whilst laid up in hospital, Roy was voted into the annual PFA Division Two team.  The excellent performances of Derek Stillie in his absence meant that Roy didn’t figure in any of the play-off games, including the Final against Gillingham at Wembley. 

His second season at the JJB Stadium (2000/01) concluded with him signing for Manchester United in a £2.500,000 deal on 27th July 2001. He signed a four-year contract for the Old Trafford club after proposed deals with both Leicester City and Everton broke down. His incoming fee was the biggest ever received by Latics at the time, easily beating the previous record of £329,000 that they received from Coventry City for Peter Atherton in 1991.  In total Roy played 137 League games for the club. 

His first season at Old Trafford saw him face stiff competition from Fabien Barthez but he still made enough appearances to qualify for a Premier League winners medal in May 2003.  The following season saw Barthez move to Marseille, but Sir Alex Ferguson opted to sign Tim Howard which meant that Roy was still not the established goalkeeper at Old Trafford, although the FA Cup Final in May 2004 proved a boost for him as he replaced Howard after 86 minutes of the game to pick up a winners medal.

On 27th May 2005 his United contract came to an end and he was offered fresh terms, but he refused to sign the contract as Sir Alex would not guarantee him first team football.  So after 49 Premier League games his time in Manchester came to an end.  Just three weeks later he signed for West Ham United.

His career at the Boleyn Ground saw him make 19 league starts before he was cut down by a back injury that resulted in him missing the remainder of the 2005/06 season.  Having been lucky to receive an FA Cup winners medal with Manchester United, he suffered the blow of not being able to take part in the Hammers’ FA Cup Final against Liverpool that season.

His next season at the Boleyn Ground was a personal Hell for Roy who descended into depression after amassing huge gambling debts, and after a further 17 league appearances he left the Hammers on 25th May 2007.  Again Roy wanted first team football to be guaranteed, but the Hammers saw the future of the goalkeeping position as lying in the hands of Rob Green whom they had signed from Norwich City.

Roy then spent half a season at Glasgow Rangers without playing a league game for the club, his only appearance being in a Scottish League Cup game against East Fife in September 2007.  It was former Latics manager Paul Jewell who gave Roy a chance to return to the Premier League and he jumped at the chance of signing for Derby County on 21st January 2008.

He was to make 30 league appearances for the Rams before Jewell himself resigned and his replacement, Nigel Clough made it clear that Roy did not figure in his plans and so on 9th August 2009 Roy began plying his trade with Danish outfit Odense Boldklub, for whom he was the Danish Goalkeeper of the Year in 2009.  However, he left the club in February of this year and he is currently not involved in the game following unsuccessful trials at Sheffield United and Barnet.

I so very nearly didn’t go to last night’s game, but around 4PM decided it might be a good idea to see us win for a change, you know, to keep my spirits up and that.

What tipped the scales was Roberto Martinez’ call to arms on the official website: pay fifteen quid to come and support the boys! On recent form, boy, did they need all the help they could get. As it happened, it wasn’t the fifteen quid that was disappointing, rather Latics’ inability to actually make the round white thing go in the big rectangle thing.

Of course, the longer it went on, the more frustrated you could feel everyone becoming. County occasionally posed a threat, but then with our leaky defence you’d have expected the odd shot to slip through against any sort of opposition: in fact I predicted a 3-1 or 4-1 win for this game, and it could so easily could have been if we’d have started with the same team we did on Saturday. Without Hugo Rodallega and the experience of a man who can actually score a goal given the opportunity, our attack lacked that edge. Sure there were some good passing movements, but this was a fourth-tier team for goodness’ sake – you should expect to be running rings round them. And we did, for the most part.

I don’t think it was a case of not wanting to score, but for all our possession and dominance we just weren’t able to penetrate County’s resolute last line of defence. Yes, we made Schmeichel work, but not hard enough. Remember, this guy’s a class keeper way above the division he’s playing in, and no doubt in a couple of years’ time (providing financial problems don’t rear their ugly head) he’ll be in the Championship and playing at a level his skill merits. Perhaps we were too complacent, but if this were Stojkovic you would have had to say he had a great game. Man of the match, even. Good show, Kasper.

What we lacked, aside from a goalscorer, was that bit of luck to spark off some confidence. An early goal and we could well have run riot as many expected us to. Even as late as the 65th minute you thought the floodgates could open at any minute, if the rate at which the shots were raining in on the County goalmouth was anything to go by.

Unfortunately, it just didn’t happen.

Latics emerge from the half time break visibly chipper and ready to rumble. Another chance saved by the goalie. Another one just shoots by the post. Caldwell puts the ball in the net only to be ruled offside. Only a matter of time, we thought.

But as the minutes wore on, you could see the mistakes start to creep into Latics’ game: whereas at one point Titus Bramble was dealing with absolutely everything that came his way, he inexplicably stepped over a pass and allowed Notts County in on goal. The big man did make up for the mistake — probably his only mis-step in the whole game to that point — and we got away with it on that occasion.

Very soon after, we weren’t so lucky. On Saturday and Wednesday, corners proved our downfall – care to guess how we conceded on Tuesday? A penalty. Nah, only joking: the ball was bundled in at the back post from a corner, and somehow the Nottingham side found themselves 1-0 up against a Premiership team that was, by all accounts, outplaying them.

Also like the previous two games, we were visibly rattled by the goal. A second just minutes later — via another corner, or at least a set piece  if I recall correctly — and just like that, we’d gone from probable winners to definite losers in the space of about 200 seconds. Speechless. Once again, Wigan never really recovered, and though we threatened on one or two occasions following, it was far too late. Not even Hugo Rodallega, who entered to fray in place of Emmerson Boyce with five minutes left on the clock, could get us out of this mess.

The abiding memory of this game for me, however, has to be Jason Scotland’s miss around the 30 minute mark. Now, to squander a one-on-one opportunity is unfortunate, to miss two is forgiveable. But in the last three games, I can think of at least three such chances where all Scotty had to do was beat the keeper – on all three occasions he’s failed.

A nice passing movement found Jase clear on goal with just Schmeichel to beat, and any other striker you’d expect to score. This was, however, Jason Scotland – a man whose finishing touch has all but deserted him since he left Swansea. Oh well, at least he made the keeper save the ball, which is more than can be said for his previous two such chances, which resulted in the serious injury of a fan in row CC, seat number 12 (a geeky joke for the hardcore fans out there).

It’s enough to drive you batty. Still, Saturday could well be a different story, what with our twin signings of Moses n’ Moreno — which will hopefully be more potent than that ever-so-popular partnership of Cho ‘n’ Go(mez) — in the frame for that no doubt up for grabs striker’s position.

You could say going out in the FA Cup Fourth Round to Notts County is a backward step from previous seasons, and it probably is. However, it’s worth looking to the long term – Wigan’s second string team has never been that strong. Remember Grimsby or Canvey Island? Well, I prefer not to, and I’m sorry if I invoked any repressed memories.

Would a cup run keep Wigan in the Premiership? No, but it would have given our second-stringers a chance of first team action. In the short term, then, not too much damage has been done – after all, maybe we should be keeping our players fit for the crucial tests to come in the next few months. In the long term, however, maybe the effects will prove to be more severe, but let’s not dwell on that too much right now.

Thankfully, the media are still up in arms over the John Terry ‘controversy’ (yawn) so we’ve been spared back page humiliation on this occasion. Don’t think I could have stood another of those anyway, not after the Tottenham ‘incident’. So, if we draw a line under it and move on, perhaps we can all continue our lives as normal and pretend it never happened.

Fat chance o’ that.

Dan, Jesus Was a Wiganer

So perhaps it ‘s a good job that the result came out the way it did. Instead of trying to find a balance, I can simply tell you that County came at us like it was a cup tie and they were the under dogs and that Latics weren ‘t ready for them. The boys in the horrible orange kit would have been glad to get to half time just to give their back feet a rest.

Then post half-time, with a substitution and a few minor tweaks (and, no doubt, backsides kicked), Latics reversed the tide. Scotland bags his first, Watson stakes a claim for more involvement, everyone goes home a little relieved. A bad day at the office for Latics, but, in a strange way, a good one too. Remember Blackpool? This could have easily been a repeat. Bobby talks about learning lessons, maybe something is starting to sink through.

But then there ‘s the debate about how useful the replay is for either side.

A top flight club away in the FA Cup is about as good as you can get for a club on the verge of a winding up order and in need of £200,000, but that is just about the point where County start to regret not getting a proper top side. The total gate money next Wednesday is unlikely to come to that, let alone County ‘s half of it. Could Latics ‘ fans raise that if their own club were in danger, let alone for someone else? Just about I reckon, but only just about.

For Latics, it ‘s an old cliche, isn ‘t it? No top flight club wants a replay at this stage, do they? Well, I ‘d argue that it ‘s a load better than not being in the cup at all. Of course the next few weeks are a little bit crowded already, but will one more game make that much difference (or should a cynic say two more games)? And in any case, these lads are professional sports people, surely they ‘d prefer the chance to compete twice a week over training every day?

A muddy field, jumpers for goal posts, the roar of wintergreen, the smell of a crowd. These are the things that childhood memories are made of and it’s always the cup. It might be a symptom of supporting a lower division side but I never dreamed of league glory. Lifting the Fourth Division Championship Trophy doesn’t quite have the same ring to it and winning the First Division was frankly a ridiculous idea. Although, bizarrely, slightly less ridiculous than it does today.

It was only the cup that opened up the possibility of you drifting past Bryan Robson, dumping Mick Mills on his backside or smashing the ball past Shilton. Kids these days, they’ve got it easy, they can just pull on the blue and white, close their eyes and pit themselves against Gerard, Terry or van der Saar, it’s probably harder for them to imagine turning out at Meadow Lane, it’s what they’re used to.

I wonder how Notts County fans feel about drawing Latics on the cup. Does it fill them that strange romantic mixture of anticipation and fear, the thrill of a possible ‘giant’ killing or the worry of getting a hiding? Are their younger fans running mental commentaries of them skipping past Diame in the playground or setting up friendlies on Fifa to see how things will pan out?
I ‘d hope so, but somehow I doubt that the prospect of drawing Latics keeps lower division fans on the edge of their seats in anticipation. I don ‘t know though, turn back time to the start of the Premier League, how would you have fancied a draw against Southampton, Palace, Oldham or Boro? At home? You ‘d have loved it, the council would have tried to shut it down, but you ‘d have loved it.

But the cup these days has lost its romance, right? Well, has it? Just because there are four or five sides that only start to take interest at the semi-final stage and some clubs would rather be focusing on not losing games in the league doesn ‘t mean that none of them would love to win it. If anything it should increase the aspirations of non-top flight clubs, give them better hope of a prolonged run.

It ‘s not the cup that ‘s lost its romance, become stale and second rate. The press and the Premier League moguls might want you to believe that, but it ‘s not true. Imagine watching your team running out at Wembley, hell, go the whole hog and imagine you running out with your team at Wembley, is the buzz still there? I bet it is.

The problem isn ‘t the cup, its top flight football, its cynicism, the cost of failure. That ‘s what ‘s wrong with the picture. The cup should be a break from all that, a rest, a distraction. It should be a chance of glory and a chance to show that you ‘re better than the non-football that “the best league in the world” forces you to churn out, week in-week out.

Anyway, I ‘m not going to win that argument today and there is a game to give a nod to. Luckily, given the thrust of what I ‘ve just said, Bobby looks like he ‘ll be putting a strong side out, the pundits will tell you that he wants to maintain the momentum of results against Hull and Wolves, but hell he might just want to do well in the cup. Suggestions are that Melchiot will play in a mask and that Scharner might be tested. Both are possibly motivational efforts for their replacements, but who knows.

There ‘ll probably be some changes, maybe Stochovich will get a run and Scotland a chance to break his duck, but, unlike Hull, County won ‘t be looking to take it easy with a top flight in the offing and I wouldn ‘t expect as many as last time out. County ‘s season has been well documented and no doubt they ‘ll be relishing for something on the field to overshadow the off-field shenanigans.

The fixture isn ‘t quite a meeting of old friends but definitely past acquaintances, Latics have had the best of past meetings, but cup games are more even, and that ‘s a problem, it is after all a cup game. You may think of Leeds or Chelsea when you think FA cup, but at least at the back of your mind I bet you also think of Canvey Island, Paul Jewell ‘s nadir and the moment there was no looking back for Wigan Athletic.

You know it shouldn ‘t happen tomorrow, you know that the game should be a stroll in the park for the boys, a boost for Bobby and an entertaining distraction, but it ‘s a football game, only two teams in it. Although the odds might be heavily weighted, County have a side that in large parts is better than their league status. It would only take one slip to make a mockery of them. One slip to bring defeat.

One defeat to start the lemmings panicking again.

The romance of the cup, eh?