Preview
The Man City match was a real wake-up call but with the probable inclusion of Ferdinand and McCartney in today’s side, we surely can’t suffer a similar fate and allow the Wigan forwards to stroll through our defence while we look at each other and wait for someone else to do something about it. It took nearly two days for parts of my clothes to dry out after that game but one good thing about that deluge was that I saw a frog sitting on the pavement at the end of my mam’s street. It also looked like it’d just seen its team lose 3-0 at home. On Wednesday I had a very unusual experience, I found myself getting excited about an England game. Now, if they could only get a Sunderland player in there somewhere, it’d really get interesting. The ‘clown’ exchange has helped to spice up the last day or so of this SAFC drought and I’m wondering if Yorkie will be in today’s squad after all following the fuss of withdrawing him on Wednesday. Ward’s mysterious home accident has also provided room for uncharitable speculation but let’s hope he recovers before too long. Last time out Wigan hammered Hull and they certainly have some firepower with Heskey and Zaki while Valencia looks impressive to me. We lost 3-0 in the corresponding fixture last year but I can’t see that happening again and I think it’s going to be a draw, 1-1 probably.

The Match
The teams have just been announced and the two latest signings are in with Collins and Bardsley making way but I was sorry to see Reid left out as I thought he was the only player to come out of the City debacle with any merit. Our 5,000 fans were making a racket as the faltering waves of Radio Newcastle reached my recumbent form on the sofa and we started brightly, forcing three corners before good old Titus Bramble headed into his own net to put us one up after 14 minutes following a low cross from Malbranque. At the other end Zaki had only merited one mention by that time. Wigan began to pressurize and we were sounding a bit sloppy at the back, particularly Chimbonda, though Ferdinand was getting a number of good mentions. Just after the half-hour mark Kilbane went close for Wigan and we were losing control. As half-time approached we continued to be on the back foot most of the time and Diouf was booked as I began to pace about and fidget with plants and what-not as I waited for that whistle to blow. When it finally ended, a few stiff words and maybe the substitution of Bardsley for Chimbonda were on the cards to prevent the game from slipping away from us.

There were no subs as the second half kicked off. Wigan started as they’d left off and gained two corners in quick succession as they kept us pinned back. Koumas replaced Kilbane as news came through of Newcastle going 2-0 down at home to Hull. I agreed with commentator Gary Bennett that we should bring Reid on as soon as possible to try and get a grip on the game again as it seemed that Wigan would surely pull one back if they kept up that kind of pressure. Just on the hour-mark we broke quickly at last but Kirkland did well to save from Cisse. A good stop by McCartney on the six-yard line and soon afterwards a great save by Gordon kept us in the game but then Zaki hit the post and it was all hands to the pumps around the 70th minute. Diouf was showing another side of his skills with some good defending. Still there’d been no substitutions and Chimbonda even came back on after treatment for an eye injury, which gave the Wigan fans the chance to boo him twice. At last we had a change and Murphy came on for Malbranque in the 75 th and we switched to 4-4-2 but almost immediately Zaki got the equalizer from close range after a Wigan cross was allowed to get to him. For the last ten minutes I was back to pacing around again and looking at the clock every thirty seconds. We were helped in the 85 th when Cattermole was sent off for a second yellow and with Murphy adding a lot to our attack I was hoping for a winner again. Zaki was subbed in the final minute and I breathed a sigh of relief but then there were three minutes of added time to endure. Time seemed to be standing still and in fact when I checked my clock, I discovered it had stopped. Wigan’s long throws continued to torment us till the end and our defence was looking porous at times but at last Rob Styles ended it. So, I managed to predict the result correctly and I can’t say that I can argue with it as we were on the receiving end for most of the match. Our defence clearly needs a few more games to gel and we could have wrapped this up with some sharper finishing but to draw 1-1 away against a side who’d won their previous match 5-0 isn’t too bad. If you’re going to the London Branch AGM on Monday, I’ll see you there.

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