Report by SJG

LEAGUE DIVISION ONE

STEVENAGE   vs WIGAN ATHLETIC

7^TH October 2023

A TALE OF PENALTIES, RED CARDS, BOOKINGS AND INEPT OFFICIALS.

After a run of bad results Latics came into the game desperate for a good result. Maloney again tinkered with the starting XI, making four changes.

Wigan began brightly enough but things went down-hill very fast, the first sign of things to come was in the fourth minute when Sessignon became the first of the many to receive a yellow card from the card happy official. Mr Young brandished the card with gay abandon throughout the game and ruined the contest as it became almost farcical. Aasgaard had an early half chance but his effort was blocked. Then in the seventh minute the home side were gifted the lead when Adeeko was harshly adjudged to have tripped Roberts and PRESSLEY slotted home from the spot.

Wigan looked to respond straight away and Humphrys took down the ball on halfway, then beat his man before unleashing a precise effort that looked goal-bound until the Stevenage keeper produced a good low save. Then more good play by Humphrys created a shooting chance for Aasgaard, but his curling effort es too high. On 21 minutes Lang became the third Wigan man booked, presumably for dissent and on 34 minutes he was awarded a second card for a challenge that barely warranted a free-kick.  The free kick saw Thompsons shot blocked and after the melee that ensued two Stevenage players needed attention as they had clashed heads. Pressley nearly doubled the lead just before the break when he latched onto a ball over the top, but Tickle saved from point blank range and the rebound was somehow smuggled behind for a corner.

Half Time; Stevenage 1-0 Wigan Athletic.

Magennis replaced Watts at half-time as Latics looked to chase the game, but it was the hosts that threatened first after the break when Vancooten had a snap shot blocked by a defender. Every free-kick conceded by Latics seemed to be followed by a yellow card, and the referee was fast running out of Latics players to book. Martial Godo was showing some great touches and his skill and trickery was probably Wigans best hope for a leveller. Certainly, when Magennis won a flick on and released the Fulham loanee it looked highly promising but the final shot was straight at the keeper, when a pull-back to Smith, who was racing to support the move, looked a better option. More yellow cards followed as the official again took centre stage, then in the 77^th minute a scything challenge by Macdonald, the first genuinely bad tackle of the game, saw Hughes ending in a heap and a straight red card was issued. Hughes and Clare were both booked for their part in the melee that followed, and then as Stevenage blatantly wasted time, and Latics became increasingly frustrated that this was being allowed, Magennis was added to the yellow card tally.  On 82 minutes Magennis scuffed a shot just over the bar, then Shaw let fly from 30 yards, but the effort was too high. When the final whistle went the referee was surrounded by aggrieved players and Tickle and Pearce were added to the list of miscreants for verbalising their thoughts.

Full Time; Stevenage 1-0 Wigan Athletic.

Attendance; 4,402

Scorers; Pressley (9, pen);

Team; WIGAN---(3-4-3); Tickle; Hughes, Rekik, Watts; Clare, Adeeko, Aasgaard, Sessignon; Humphrys, Lang, Godo; Subs; Magennis, Shaw, J Smith, Pearce, McManaman;

STEVENAGE---(4-3-1-2); Ashby-Hammond; Wildin, Sweeney, Butler, Piergianni; Forster-Caskey, Vancooten, L. Thompson; Roberts; List, Pressley; Subs; Freeman, Hemmings, Macdonald, B. Thompson, N. Thompson;

Referee, A. Young.

Maloney managed, just about, to hold his tongue and the frustration that he must have felt was kept in check.

The league table makes for unhappy reading, and Latics badly need a response on the field and some points on the board so that they can pull away from the bottom four, relegation places.  A change of luck, and a bit of the ‘rub of the green’ with the on-field decisions would not go amiss either.