Report by John Patrick Heeley

Colchester arrived in town on the crest of a wave following their midweek victory over QPR but were brought back down to earth.

Welsh wizard Simon Haworth continued his current form by netting a superb hat-trick to sink Colchester at the JJB Stadium and move his tally to 5 goals for the season.

There had been an air of expectancy amongst many Colchester United fans following the recent displays given out by their 19 year old wonder kid, Lua-Lua. It's just a pity that they couldn't be bothered travelling north to watch him. Barely 100 of the Layer Road faithful made the trip to the JJB Stadium to see if Wednesday's hat trick was just a flash in the pan.

Wigan welcomed back Stuart Balmer from injury and he slotted in to form a formidable rearguard with Arjan de Zeeuw and Pat McGibbon.

It didn't take Wigan long to get into the swing of things. On 5 minutes Liddell collected a long ball and broke free on goal but his shot was fired wide of the target.

Lua-Lua waited till 10 minutes had gone before showing the Wigan fans what he is capable of. He charged through the middle of Latics' midfield as if they weren't there but was met by Stuart Balmer whose clattering challenge a few yards from the edge of the penalty area cost Wigan a free kick.

2 minutes later Wigan took the advantage. Andy Liddell looped the ball into the middle of the box and SIMON HAWORTH crept in with an outstretched boot to lob Simon Brown in the Colchester goal to put Latics 1-0 up.

WIgan continued to dominate the game and Colchester had very litle opportunities in the opening encounters.

However on 27 minutes Colchester's Aaron Skelton fired just wide of the target and 3 minutes later, totally against the run of play they drew level. A Lua-Lua neat back flick was met by KARL DUGUID whose shot deflected off a Wigan defender to loop over Roy Carroll and into the back of the net.

Wigan then stepped up a gear and on 32 minutes Andy Liddell, 30 yards out, ran square across midfield before putting his shot wide of the Colchester goal.

Two minutes later Brian McLaughlin put in a dangerous cross into the heart of the Colchester area and with the keeper beat it was down to the Colchester defence to head out for a corner to deny Scott Green who'd sneaked in at the far post.

On 37 minutes Green played a lovely ball into the area to Liddell, who charged forward with Colchester defenders all around him but his shot was put out for a corner by an outstretched leg from the Colchester keeper.

A few minutes later Haworth collected a cross into the area, he headed the ball down, controlled it well, turned on goal but his relatively tame shot went straight intothe arms of the keeper.

Then on 43 minutes Andy Liddell darted down the right flank and his cross into the area was met again by HAWORTH who crept in with an outstretched boot to lob the advancing Brown in goal.

HALF TIME: Wigan 2 Colchester 1

The crowd had barely settled back into their seats when HAWORTH bagged his hat trick. Andy Liddell again the supplier with a clever flick on to the Welshman with his back on goal five yards out but a majestic overhead kick sent the ball goalbound and Wigan to a valuable three points.

On 55 minutes Ian Kilford put a beatiful ball down the right wing to Liddell who ran down the line only to be dropped by a Colchester defender whose arguing after the offence cost them 10 yards with the resulting free kick, which Haworth headed narrowly wide of the mark.

Only 2 minutes later and Wigan were again on the attack. Haworth put Kilford through in the area but the midfielder fired wide.

And within seconds Kilford was put through again, this time by Liddell but his shot went limply at the keeper who got down to his knees to collect easily.

Haworth thought he had netted a fourth just after the hour mark but his effort was ruled out for offside and a minute later was only a matter of feet away from connecting with another Liddell cross into the box.

On 70 minutes Kevin Sharp was called into action to clear off his own line after a rare Colchester attack.

Moments later Balmer was forced to put behind for a corner as Colchester rallied forward again and on 76 minutes Lua Lua was unlucky with his effort after trying to curl a low ball around Carroll to the far post but the Ulsterman pushed behind for a corner kick.

Wigan then pushed forward yet again with Liddell, midway into his own half, slicing the Colchester midfield with the ball through to Haworth, who passed to McGibbon to his left but the defender's low shot was collected easily on the left post by the keeper.

McGibbon then collected himself a yellow card for a foul on Karl Duguid which was moved forward ten yards courtesy of the new ruling.

Colchester's Gregory went agonisingly close to pulling one back when he put his header onto the crossbar on 82 minutes and one minute later, at the other end of the park, Haworth was denied by Brown who snatched the ball off the line, pushing it out to safety.

With the seconds ticking away a Colchester free kick was headed clear by de Zeeuw finding Haworth in the middle of the Wigan half, he slotted the ball through to Liddell who raced forward with Brian McLaughlin in support but Liddell's shot on goal went just wide.

Another 3 points, upto sixth in the table and Colchester coming back down to earth with a bang. It's now Peterborough on Tuesday and hopefully another win to sustain Wigan's push for promotion to Division One.

FINAL SCORE: Wigan 3 Colchester 1