Wednesday 27th January 2010,
The Premier League,
Blackburn Rovers 2-1 Wigan Athletic

Wigan Athletic manager Roberto Martinez knows that his team is now firmly entrenched in relegation after this defeat. The Blues now sit in 14th place in the Premier League, just two points clear of the drop zone.

Worryingly, a small gap is now appearing after the bottom eight clubs and it looks as if Latics are among those clubs in that ‘mini league’ at the bottom, three of which will ultimately lose their top flight status in May.

Pre match talk was of a proposed strike by Maynor Figueroa on the advice of his agent who is angling for a cut of any transfer fee should his player leave for Sunderland. In turn Sunderland manager Steve Bruce came in with two insulting bids for the Honduran and Martinez has not been slow in condemning both the agent and Steve Bruce.

Figueroa did start the game at left back and there was also a Premier League debut for Serbia goalkeeper Vladimir Stojkovic. Ironically it was Stojkovic who was at fault for Blackburn’s first goal on twenty minutes. A weak punch from a Brett Emerton shot fell into the path of Morten Gamst Pedersen who lashed home a superb shot.

Gary Caldwell scored his first goal for the club in the 56th minute and this should have been the cue for all out attack from the visitors. This did not materialize and it was Rovers players who then took charge of the game and showed a lot more commitment, none more so than Big Sam’s new Croatian striker Nikola Kalinic who was injured scoring the winning goal with fifteen minutes of the game remaining.

Surprisingly it took Martinez until four minutes from time to bring on another attacking option as Hugo Rodallega had looked out of sorts all evening. The result gave Blackburn back to back wins and the Premier League is so tight that Rovers have now gone from being relegation favourites into 11th place in the league.

Martinez needs to galvanize his team now to do likewise against Everton and Sunderland, failing this the remainder of the season is set to be very nervy indeed.

BLACKBURN ROVERS, Paul Robinson, Pascal Chimbonda, Ryan Nelsen, Gael Givet, Martin Olsson, Brett Emerton, Steven N’Zonzi, David Hoilett, (Steven Reid 54), Morten Gamst Pedersen, El Hadj Diouf, Franco Di Santo 77), Nikola Kalinic, (Jason Roberts 78). Subs not used, Jason Brown, Phil Jones, Keith Andrews, Michel Salgado

Goal scorers, Morten Gamst Pedersen 20 mins, Nikola Kalinic 76
Booked, Steven Reid 59 mins, Steven N’Zonzi 83 mins, Paul Robinson 90 mins

WIGAN ATHLETIC, Vladimir Stojkovic, Mario Melchiot, (Emmerson Boyce 67), Gary Caldwell, Titus Bramble, Maynor Figueroa, Charles N’Zogbia, Hendry Thomas, (Jason Scotland 86), Mohamed Diame, James McCarthy, (Scott Sinclair 86), Paul Scharner, Hugo Rodallega. Subs not used, Mike Pollitt, Antonio Amaya, Steve Gohouri, Jordi Gomez

Goal scorer, Gary Caldwell 56 mins
Booked, Mohamed Diame 71 mins

Referee, Lee Mason
Attendance, 22,190