Latics leave Gawthorpe with the points

Last updated : 29 September 2013 By Andy Ashworth
 
Conor Mitchell

The first half was quite a drab and unmemorable affair, with clear cut chances at a premium. Our typical passing game was sadly missing, as was our assured touch, and as a result we created very little.  Ntumba Massanka fired an effort into the side netting and Brad Jackson headed weakly at the Wigan keeper. The big Wigan number 9 picked up a booking for a proper forwards challenge, but he wouldn’t mind as his day was going to get much better in the 2nd half. 

The break saw Pash try to change things up and  he brought on Luke Daly for Andreas Bianga in the middle, but there was no major immediate impact. Indeed the Wiganers had some chances with the number 9 firing in two long range efforts. The first was a quick direct free kick turned round the post by Conor Mitchell and the latter flashed wide. 

The game started to open up a little more and Christian Hill cut in from the right and flashed a shot high and wide of the Wigan goal. Nathan Lowe also had a couple of long range efforts, with one drifting wide and the other being blocked by a flying Wigan defender. 

With around 70 minutes on the clock the visitors took the lead. The Big 9 stood over a free kick outside the box and curled an effort in past Mitchell. We reacted with a double substitution as Khius Metz and Jamal Crawford came on for Lowe and Jackson. 

Our luck didn’t change though, and we still couldn’t discover any fluidity. Indeed, the visitors could easily have extended their lead as the game wound down. First we had a lucky escape as Mitchell shovelled a cross onto the backtracking Callum Richardson and the ball rebounded just wide. The Wigan goalscorer then saw an audacious 60 yard effort drift just wide as the visitors broke following a claret corner. 

Team:- Conor Mitchell, Waqas Azam, Charlie Holt, Alex Whitmore, Callum Richardson, Andreas Bianga (Luke Daly), Nathan Lowe (Jamal Crawford), Christian Hill, Brad Jackson (Khius Metz), Kevin Ly, Ntumba Massanka.
Subs not used:- Callum Jakovlevs, Evan Galvin.