Wigan slumped to their fourth consecutive league defeat on Saturday leaving newly appointment manager Uwe Rosler who was watching from the stand with some idea of the magnitude of the task facing him to turn around a squad of players playing well below their potential.
Caretaker boss Graham Barrow opted to ring the changes once again , dropping Perch, Beausejour, Keane , their replacements being Crainey, McClean and Holt.
Six months ago , Wigan cruised past Millwall to secure their place in the F.A.Cup final, Saturday was a very different game as Millwall tore into a disjointed Wigan side from the start and were aggrieved that Crainey’s apparent foul on Feeney within the first minute int he penalty area went unpunished.
Millwall did take advantage of the new look Latics’ defence shortly when a goal mouth scramble following a corner, saw Wigan unable to clear the ball which fell to Morison and the Welsh international fired the ball home from a tight angle.
Wigan started to pass the ball around in the Martinez style hopefully a precursor of things to come but once again all the good work coming to nothing as tome and again the moves broke down around the edge of the penalty area although with Wigan having one of the worst goal scoring records in the division this didn’t come as much of a surprise to the loyal travelling faithful.
When Wigan did get into the area they found Forde a one time Wigan target in excellent form in the Millwall goal. The Irishman saved well from McClean twice and was grateful for a deflection which saw Boyce’s goal bound effort fail to trouble the scoreboard.
Millwall looked sharp and constantly probed the Wigan defences for signs of weakness and Feeney’s powerful shot hit the side netting and Woolford saw his his bounce back off the post with Carson well beaten.
Latics came out with far more purpose in the second half with Rosler rumoured to have visited the dressing room during the break but once again all the efforts and possession in midfield were producing very few chances on the Millwall goal, the best fell to Grant Holt but the big striker was unable to reach the ball thus continuing his drought in front of goal . For Wigan , substitute McManaman introduced some urgency into the proceedings but as Wigan pushed forwards in search of an equaliser Millwall broke and Jermaine Easter cooly slotted the ball past Carson to put the game beyond the reach of Wigan.
James McArthur pulled one back a minute later with a fine low shot from the edge of the area but it was too little too late and the full time whistle saw Wigan’s appalling run in a league in which at the start of the season they were one of the favourites to win continue and with the next league game a derby day match against Bolton, Rosler will have t work his magic quickly if Wigan are to be considered a contender this season.
Team Line Up
Carson, McCann, Ramis, Barnett, Boyce, Crainey, McArthur, Watson, McClean, Powell, Holt
Subs Used
McManaman for Powell, Shotton for Boyce, Espinoza for Crainey
Man of the Match
McClean, never stopped trying
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