Before
I think the moment that penalty went in against Man City was the most joyous I've felt at a match for many years and the mood hasn't dissipated. In fact with the signing of Gyan, Bent scoring his first England goal on Tuesday and Welbeck also scoring for the Under 21's things have been simmering very nicely. It looks like Gyan will play some part this afternoon and Mensah will surely return while much has been made of the Bramble, Cattermole and Bruce connections with Wigan. They're a strange side and are difficult to predict as last year they came off the back of a 9-1 defeat to beat us 1-0. They've just beaten Spurs away after a couple of good hidings so it's looking like business as usual for them. I was impressed with their attacking play in both of our meetings last season and if N'Zogbia plays for them, we'll have our hands full. Still, I think that we're good for a draw at least and I'm predicting a 2-1 win for us.

The Match
I was surprised to see Ferdinand starting instead of Mensah but glad to see Welbeck starting upfront. He looks a dangerous player to me and with Gyan on the bench we had plenty of back-up strike-power. I failed to get live T.V. coverage of the match on the internet and so resorted to Real Radio. Wigan had the better of the opening ten minutes with Diame going close but then they received a yellow card when Thomas blocked Bent on the break. Ten minutes after that it was no surprise to see Cattermole joining him in the book and we didn't have very long to tread on eggshells as a few minutes later he got his second card and was off. He didn't look Bruce in the eye as he left the pitch and if he's got any sense he'll be keeping his head down in the Sunderland area for a while. I think the sooner we get rid of him the better as he cost us the Birmingham match and forced us to play three-quarters of this one with ten men. Boyce was booked in between Cattermole's efforts and soon Gohouri was booked when he really clattered Bent. It wasn't hard to see Wigan also going down to ten men before long. On the footballing front we managed to rally and then Riveros came on for El Mohammadi as we shuffled our pack going, I think, 4-3-2. Wigan piled the pressure on and I was looking at the clock already which wasn't helped by three minutes of stoppage-time but then we proceeded to put some pressure on ourselves. Anyway, it was still goalless at the break. We'd defended well actually and with Mensah available to shore us up perhaps all was not lost.

As we came out for the second-half Gyan had replaced Welbeck and that gave us a much-needed something to cheer about. Bent moved back into midfield with Gyan alone at the front. A few minutes in, Mignolet saved well from Rodiega and then the same player seemed to have scored but it had gone just wide. N'Zogbia and Di Santo soon came on for Stam and Thomas so Wigan were going for all-out attack. Both sets of fans were making a big racket and Wigan were having the better of it but thankfully Mignolet again proved what a good keeper he is. Richardson was limping and with thirty minutes still on the clock things were looking grim but suddenly Henderson stormed down the right and crossed for (who else?) Gyan to smash it home. He had another good chance but skied it and thankfully Boselli Tevezed a simple header over the bar a minute later. Having conceded ten goals without reply in their two previous home games Wigan's fans were understandably less than pleased to be 1-0 down to ten men and this could only be good for us as we knocked it about confidently. With ten minutes to go Richardson was finally subbed and how great it was to hear Mensah coming on to replace him. Mignolet made another great save from a low N'Zogbia shot but with four minutes to go Wigan equalized through Alcaraz following a deflected free-kick. My heart sank when five minutes of stoppage-time was announced and I thought it was never going to end but it finally did and we'd got a draw.

I was gutted not to get three points but, all things considered, I'd certainly have settled for this at 3.25. There were many good things to say about another gutsy team performance with Bramble, Ferdinand and Mignolet taking defensive plaudits while Henderson's great run for our goal and Gyan scoring on his debut also being highlights. I need a lie-down. See you at the Arsenal match.

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