Stoke City 0 Wigan Athletic 1

From the outset, Wigan were quick and moved the ball accurately and could have quite easily been 3-0 up at half time.

However it was Stoke who had the first real chance. Chris Greenacre deserved a goal when his volley was saved by John Filan the Wigan 'keeper.

The first major chance for Wigan came on 11 minutes when Ed De Goey tipped Lee McColloch's shot over the bar. On 36 minutes Jason Roberts missed what would seem a simple half-volley from the centre of the penalty area after an inswinging corner was dealt with particuarly badly by the potters defence, but that fired up over the crossbar into the boothen end and Lee McColloch finished off Wigan's hat-trick of misses with a shot from a similar position that just missed the right hand post in the 39th minute.

Stoke had phases of the first half where they counter attacked and just before half time a scramble in the Wigan penalty area could have seen the potters take the lead, Ade Akinbiyi having his eventual chance from a very tight angle turned away for a corner and Gerry Taggart headed that subsequent corner kick over the bar.

4 Minutes into the second half, a Wayne Thomas cross found the head of Chris Greenacre who couldn’t get enough power to beat the ‘keeper who was a couple of yards from his line. City started the half looking like they could well put up a good fight but once the referee had make some questionable decisions, Wigan took over the game and Stoke literally sat back guarding their goal.

Frankly, Wigan had more pace, they were first to every ball, they were quick to challenge and whichever player had the ball at the time had several outlets to pass to. Stoke on the other hand weren’t running for each other, they watched as a player struggled to get out of a tight situation (usually with a long ball to nowhere) and were not strong enough in the midfield nor quick enough up front. They seemed to have ran out of ideas.

Stoke had the occasional break but it was mostly a case of keeping Wigan out, which they did successfully until the 87^th minute when Lee McCulloch was able to finish off a tremendous display off quick passing to slip the ball into the bottom left hand corner of the net.

I’m sorry to say it but tonight we were beaten by the better side. It wasn’t a case of being unlucky to concede, it was more a shame that we had held on for so long when we thought we could have hung on. Ade Akinbiyi continually got caught offside and the attack looked weaker than its great start to the season.

Clint Hill had to be substituted off after a challenge with what appeared to be something to do with his knee and the only booking of the game was Wigan’s Baines on the 43^rd minute.