Report by SJG

CHESHIRE COUNTY LEAGUE

WIGAN ATHLETIC vs WITTON ALBION

18^th February 1933

FOUR IN A ROW AS TITLE RACE HEATS UP.

Wigan made in four wins in a row, and four clean sheets in a row as an unchanged XI romped to a 4-0 win against Witton Albion. The bitterly cold and windy weather kept many away as a gate of only 4,000 was recorded, but those who attended were treated to a fine display of flowing football that could easily have resulted in a bigger win if it was not for the young Witton keeper, Bryce, who performed heroics behind his overworked defence.

With the wind at their back, it was anticipated that Wigan would be straight on to the offensive, but it was Collin, for the Albion, who had the first shot on goal which Abbott collected with relative ease. Athletic then took up the running and Allon fed a ball to Jamieson whose well-directed header brought Bryce into action for the first, but not the last, time of the afternoon. A neat passing move that involved Spencer, Allon and Chambers gave Jamieson a shooting chance but his effort flew over the bar. Jamieson and Chambers both had shots that Bryce handled well, then McCabe lashed the ball into the net, only for the goal to be disallowed because of an alleged foul in the build up by Allon.

On 21 minutes Wigan took the lead, McCabe was tripped just outside the box and ALLON fired the free kick beyond the wall and the keeper to claim the lead. Athletic continued to dominate and it seemed inevitable that more goals would arrive. On 30 minutes more neat passing created space for MCCABE and he applied the finishing touch.

Jamieson needed attention following one heavy collision and whilst he continued he was moved to the wing role as he was clearly limping and not fully fit. Hughes on the other wing was having something of a field day as his pace frequently proved too much for his markers and his crosses were causing many issues for the Albion rearguard. On the stroke of half time McCabe rattled the woodwork with a fiercely struck shot, but the defence cleared the danger.

Half Time; Wigan Athletic 2-0 Witton Albion.

The second period began in similar vein, Hughes tricked his way past Gregory and whipped in a cross that Bryce had to turn over his own bar as the forwards applied pressure. Twice Belcher conceded free-kicks and when Banks failed to head clear the second dead ball properly Murphy latched onto the loose ball and squared to CHAMBERS who scored. The link up play between Hughes and Chambers continued to threaten but somehow the visitors stood firm and they even managed a couple of shots of their own, with Bate and then Collin both having pot shots, but neither unduly stretched the Wigan keeper.

Hughes netted for Wigan, only to turn and see the flag raised for offside, Latics then had a stonewall penalty claim denied following a clear handball by Banks. There was more controversy surrounding the fourth goal, firstly Spencer broke forward and dribbled into the Albion area, where he was upended but he still slipped a pass to McCabe who fired home. The referee then disallowed the goal for a foul on Spencer and to the consternation of The Wigan team he deemed the offence to be outside the box and signalled a free-kick.  MCCABE took the set-piece and saved any more debate by powering an effort past the wall and into the Albion net.

Full Time; Wigan Athletic 4-0 Witton Albion.

Attendance; 4,000

Scorers; Allon (21), McCabe (30), (88), Chambers (50)

Team; WIGAN-- Abbott; O’Dell, Callachan; Allon, Wake, Spencer; Hughes, McCabe, Chambers, Jamieson, Murphy;  

WITTON ALBION—Bryce; Banks, Gregory; Hammond, Belcher, Bate; Woods, Taylor, Harrison, Ramsden, Collin;

Referee; Mr. T. Marrell. (Stockport)

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The recent run of success has consolidated Wigans position in the leading pack. It is unfortunate that a bad patch that befell the club in the early part of January, when they gained only one point out of the six available, as a better return from those games would surely have seen the Athletic sitting at the head of the table.

Wigan now face two consecutive away games, but both are winnable.

First they travel to Moss Lane to play Altrincham who are experiencing a fairly poor season, by their standards, they currently sit ten points behind Wigan and are not really in contention for the title. They are however progressing well in the cup and this will probably be their focus.

The second away game is a trip to Northwich Victoria, who never really recovered from the 9-0 drubbing they received at Springfield Park and they not sit in mid-table.

Altrincham will have an ex-Wigan Borough player returning from injury and Jepson will be included in their forward line. Jepson was a regular scorer for Borough and recorded a fine return of 29 goals in the 1930-31 season.

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