P11 Pts 11
Saturday 1st November 2008
The Premier League
Portsmouth 1-2 Wigan Athletic
 In the relentless wind & rain Wigan won away to shove the knockers thoughts & words back to whence they came, me included.
The twin strike force of Zaki and Heskey came up with the goods while the defence rode an incredible amount of luck to only concede the one goal in atrocious conditions.
Latics started the brighter much to the delight of a hardy travelling support, in the first ten minutes they had two corners to cheer as Palacios had a shot blocked plus Valencia forced James into a routine save.
Slowly the home team came back into it as Diarra began to dominate the midfield, Johnson had a pot-shot but Kirkland saved easily.
Twenty minutes in and surprise, surprise Lee Cattermole gets a yellow card then just after Peter Crouch hit Latics bar with a deft header.
Wigan hit back with a couple of corners which James had to deal with and with Jason Koumas coming more into the match the Welshman had a shot blocked which was destined for the bottom corner.
Titus Bramble is then lucky only to receive a yellow card, the referee was perhaps swayed by the conditions, from the resulting free kick which hit Palacios and Johnson fired the rebound over the bar.
Defoe then fooled Boyce who superbly recovered to tackle the Fratton forward and concede a corner.
Diop fired in a goal bound header but Palacios was in the way again, the Honduran was standing on the goal line and somehow headed the ball onto the bar and away to safety.
As dry shirts beckoned to the two teams Diop concedes his second penalty in consecutive games, as the clock hit forty five minutes Bramble was bundled over and Zaki thumped the ball down the middle from the penalty spot as James conveniently dived out of the way.
0-1 at the break and new boss Tony Adams fetched on Kranjcar for Traore and he made a difference from the off.
His free kick was cleared off the line by Boyce and then Crouch had a header millimetres wide as Portsmouth battled for an equalizer.
A small respite for a hard pressed defence and Zaki nearly scored again but James tipped his effort over the crossbar.
Back came Pompey and Chris Kirkland picked up a back pass and Latics lined up the line as Defoe fired his shot against Heskey.
Once again Latics forced themselves back into the game and Zaki fired over when he should have done better, then just on seventy minutes Latics rode their luck again.
Twice the home team hit the Kirklands bar with headers but Wigan hit back with a long range effort from Palacios then Valencia scored but was flagged offside thus ruling out his effort.
8 minutes left of normal time and Portsmouth equalise from Kranjcar, a corner is only half cleared properly and the substitute fired low through a packed penalty area.
Surely Latics could hang on for a “lucky” draw, NO they couldn’t, first Valencia should have won it but Latics talisman Ivanhoe had other ideas, England’s number nine wrapped three points to bring away from a pour down in the Park as he latched onto a Cattermole pass to hit 100 goals in the Premiership.
Due to the late, late winner it moves Wigan’s premier sporting club up to 16th , at least until Sunday when local rivals Bolton who are currently bottom play at the breezebloc against City and then Newcastle at home to Villa on Monday.
PORTSMOUTH: James, Johnson, Campbell, Distin, Belhadj (Pamarot 90), Diop (Utaka 73), Diarra, Davis, Armand Traore (Kranjcar 46), Crouch, Defoe.
Subs Not Used: Ashdown, Kaboul, Hughes, Kanu.
Goal scorer, Kranjcar 82min
WIGAN ATHLETIC, Kirkland, Melchiot, Bramble, Boyce, Figueroa, Valencia, Palacios, Cattermole, Koumas, Heskey, Zaki (Camara 89).
Subs Not Used: Pollitt, Taylor, Scharner, Kilbane, Brown, De Ridder
Goalscorers, Zaki (pen) 45min & Heskey 90min
Booked, Cattermole, Bramble & Figueroa.
Referee, Peter Walton
Attendance, 18,416 |
