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| Hamam El-Fitorui came on as a substitute |
With no news forthcoming from the last game it’s not clear how much rotation the line-up for today’s game saw. I do know that Ntumba Massanka returned to the starting XI but Christian Hill was only on the bench. Lewis Norvock was not present and is presumably injured, while Aiden O’Neill is likely still waiting for his international clearance from the Australian FA.
The game had a frenetic start with a fast pace in the middle of the park seeing both sides cancel out any central attacking threats. The Clarets forced 2 early corners which came to nought, but the first blood was drawn by the visitors. Wigan put together an incisive passing phase that left us bewildered and the final pass tore us asunder, giving the Wigan 10 a clear run directly through the middle and he flicked the ball past Tony Aghayere into the back of the net.
Far from spurring us on to react we continued to struggle to get a foot on the ball and make a telling positive contribution. By the time 20 minutes had passed the score remained unchanged but Wigan had seen two goals chalked off due to the linesman's flag. First they had seen a corner fall to the edge of the box and returned with a deft clip. Aghayere did brilliantly to get fingertips to divert onto the face of the bar and the on rushing striker nodded in when offside. Minutes later a pass to the left wing found a man who stroked home but he too was offside.
We did seem to be in a little bit of disarray with the passing play and movement of the visitors pulling us all over the park. Just before the half hour mark we had our first chance of note as Shaun Hobson rose to meet a corner and nodded to the far post where Massanka fought through and clipped the ball the wrong side of the far post while stretching.
It was a single highlight in the first 40 minutes and Wigan's precise and purposeful passing was just far superior to our optimistic balls into areas that some of the lads just were not reading. Wigan saw a couple more effort flash past our goal but as we moved into the final five minutes of the half we suddenly woke up.
Khius Meta got up the right wing and crossed the ball onto the roof of the net with the keeper flapping. Hobson nearly scored completely by accident from the half way line when he overhit a deep ball, and again the keeper was more than a little worried. Brad Jackson also stepped up and went on two of his typical busy runs, firstly seeing his cross cut out and then on the second making space for a shot that drifted over from his weaker foot. Finally in the half Massanka tried his luck with invention on the left getting him past two people and into the box but his effort again went agonisingly wide.
The 2nd half began and perhaps Pash had told us we were fortunate and had been given a real chance. Around 10 minutes into the half we had won another corner on the right and Jackson lofted it over where it was met unmarked by a towering Hobson header and we were back on terms. Unfortunately though we improved in the 2nd half we were at best only now on a par with the visitors and it never really looked like either side would go on and get a decisive goal. One of The Latics real dangermen, the captain and goalscorer, needed treatment on a facial wound after bravely sliding in with Andy Nugent and Aghayere on the edge of the box. He returned for a short spell but quickly realised he had to go off. Wigan also withdrew their big forward, while we brought Chris Hill on for Metz.
Frustrations grew and both teams picked up a booking each. Massanka was also warned by the ref possibly for suggesting he was a perhaps a little mistaken about the booking for Waqas Azam. We also brought on Hamam El-Fitouri for Brandon Wilson in the middle.
As the clock ticked down we had a great chance with Azam firing in a shot from the left that the keeper got down sharply to divert behind. The corner led indirectly to a speculative bicycle kick from Massanka that sailed into the keeper's arms. The final attack of the game though almost saw Wigan snatch all three with a curling shot going a whisker wide of Aghayere’s left hand post. Perhaps a fair result, but then again perhaps we were a little fortunate…
Team:- Tony Aghayere, Waqas Azam, Andy Nugent, Shaun Hobson, Vash Dixon, Andreas Bianga, Brandon Wilson (Hamam El-Fitouri), Brad Jackson, Jamal Crawford, Ntumba Massanka, Khius Metz (Christian Hill).
Subs not used:- Connor King, Josh Dolling.