A woeful and uninspiring performance from Sunderland allowed Wigan to blow us away 2-1 at a windswept SOL on Saturday. First half goals from Ben Watson and Charles Insomnia now have us nervously looking over our shoulders at the relegation trapdoor.

There was one change from the side that drew with Tottenham last week with the suspended Kieran Richardson making way for Grant Leadbitter.

For the second game running we must have lost the toss, as the first half saw us kicking towards the north stand. Cisse had the first shot on goal from about twenty yards but his effort ballooned over, and this was about as good as it got until Wigan took the lead.

Wigan, kicking into the wind, hoofed a long ball forward that we cleared only as far as Ben Watson who was lurking on the edge of the area. With no challenges or any pressure from a Sunderland player, Watson coolly let the ball bounce before volleying his shot into the bottom corner.

Sunderland looked to equalise and forced Kirkland into a decent save from a long-range Andy Reid shot. Malbranque latched onto the rebound but was offside, and Kirkland parried his shot away anyway. Cisse then got into a decent position but Kirkland was also equal to his strike.

With Sunderland looking lethargic and playing at a tempo which is so easy to defend against, frustration amongst the supporters around me started to grow with Cisse and Jones coming in for some criticism. The mood was slightly lightened when a bloke a couple of rows in front of me came out with a belting line. Steve Bruce was standing in his technical area when Wigan had a throw on the half way line. “Oi, Brucey! Move out the way I can’t see the pitch” even managed to get a chuckle from the fat Geordie bastard himself.

Cisse had another couple of half chances but the best he could do was hit the side netting after being played in down the left channel by Malbranque. We equalised in slightly fortunate circumstances when Grant Leadbitter capitalised on a loose ball before breaking forward and slotting past Kirkland from the edge of the area.

This looked to be the lift we needed before half time, but that feeling soon vanished when Sunderland allowed Insomnia (sorry Charlie) to run the length of the pitch unchallenged to slot the ball under Fulop and into the bottom corner. The most frustrating thing was the fact that someone should have fouled him on the half way line, and he twice looked to have over ran the ball but no one challenged him.

After the break it was the same old story with Wigan looking the better side. Scharner could and should have killed the game with half an hour to go when he was played in by N’Zogbia, but Fulop did well to deny him.

We did have the ball in the back of the net soon after when Malbranque latched onto a saved Cisse shot but the Frenchman was flagged offside. This was his last piece of action as he was replaced by Edwards.

Grant Leadbitter thought he had equalised for the second time in the game when he turned McCartney’s cross-come-shot into the net but he was also flagged offside.

With Daryl Murphy on for Andy Reid and David Healy on for Ben Haim Sunderland went three at the back in search of the equaliser. In truth it never looked like coming, and if anything Wigan looked dangerous on the break with us having committed so many men forward.

Three minutes of injury time was played out professionally in our half next to the corner flag, something we should have done last week.

Full time was greeted with a chorus of boos which on this performance was totally justified. I suppose all we can take from this weekend is having just glanced at the other results they seem to have gone ok for us.

Final Score: Sunderland 1 Wigan Athletic 2

ALS Man of the Match: Fulop. Couldn’t have done anything with the two goals and also made one good save.

Aidan Crowe

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