Wigan Athletic finally got their Premier League season underway with a 1-0 away victory against Spurs when Hugo Rodallega smashed home from a tight angle on 80 minutes to give the Latics their first ever win at White Hart Lane.
The game started brightly enough for Roberto Martinez` men and they forced a couple of corners in the opening exchanges, and from one of these corners on 7 minutes Latics defender Stave Gohouri cracked an effort against the bar when he swivelled and shot from six yards after a good knock down from captain Antolin Alcaraz.
Latics had a good first twenty minutes of the game with Ronnie Stam looking threatening down the right but what was most impressive was the way the team defended as a unit when possession was lost, with Gohouri and Alcaraz forming a solid partnership at the heart of the back four and they kept Crouch and Defoe limited to half chances.
Spurs boss Harry Redknapp made two changes at half-time taking off Crouch and Assou-Ekotto bringing on Pavlyuchenko and Kranjcar but the pattern of the game remained the same with the Latics defending stoutly and limiting Spurs to half chances.
As the second half grew on the Latics had two glorious openings to take the lead, firstly a break down the right with Rodallega who played a superb ball to the far post and storming in with an open goal at his mercy Antolin Alcaraz missed the target from barely 2 feet out.
Moments later Rodallega was again the creator as he played a lovely ball into Jordi Gomez who was on as a replacement for Mauro Boselli, the former Espanyol man hit a volley on the run from 25 yards that screamed over the bar.
Then on 80 minutes Rodallega showed his two team mates how it should be done when he fired across Carlo Cudicini from a tight angle into the far corner of the net to make it 1-0 to the Latics.
There were one or two anxious moments but on the whole the Latics were comfortable as they ran the clock down, at the final whistle there was a sense of relief in the Wigan camp. Three Premier League points gained, first goal of the league season scored and most importantly none conceded.
Looks like the new black away kit just might be a lucky one after all
Teams
Spurs: Cudicini; Kaboul, Dawson, King, Assou-Ekotto (Kranjcar); Lennon (Dos Santos), Palacios, Huddlestone, Bale; Crouch (Pavlyuchenko), Defoe
Subs: Alnwick, Jenas, Keane, Bassong
Latics: Latics: Al Habsi; Boyce, Gohouri, Alcaraz, Figueroa; Diame, Thomas; Stam (McArthur), McCarthy, Rodallega; Boselli (Gomez)
Subs: Pollitt, Caldwell, Mustoe, Watson, McManaman
Share this article
Related Articles
13 comments
Comments are closed.
First points of the season, 100% in new kit, lovely
Hi, Spurs fan here. Well done, I always knew you lot wouldn’t be as easy to turn over as your most recent results suggested. Lots of time for your manager too. Best of luck for the rest of the season.
Thanks a lot Shannon, it was nice to lay the ghost of last seasons defeat
Congrats to Wigan, a win is a win. Spurs should’ve put away their chances and if they had done so it could’ve been a comfortable victory, that being said Wigan had two chances before the goal to score.
No disrespect to Wigan but Spurs need to beat teams like Wigan if they are to be a top four side. They need to figure out how to break down teams like Wigan, Wolves and Stoke who’ll play defensive football in hope of a counter-attack.
Well done guys. Spurs though I am I do appreciate that you guys played out of your skins. Great stuff.
My first game at WHL for 8 years. Ah well, well done Wigan you wanted it 500% more than Spurs did.
Spurs fan. I was at the match. You guys did well, an really frustrated our fans because you didn’t let us do anything! Well done. You have a peach of a manager – he is a genius for orchestrating that performance under difficult circumstances. Your keeper was good too. Where did you find him?
Thanks a lot for your gracious comments in defeat, at least your not bitter like some clubs fans….the keeper is on loan from Bolton, I really do hope we make him a permanent signing
guys i gave a comment yesterday that al habsi can be one of the best keepers in the permeirship if not he bieng in the bench with bolton he proved that today! i just hope krickland dosent take his place and remains on the bench
spurs fan here. WHERE WAS KIRKLAND WHEN WE NEEDED HIM ?! :O) i’m mighty peed off with the result but can’t find too much too moan about, the better team won on the day.
Had the privilege of watching on Television, in Victoria BC, the ‘most improved team in the Premiership” Go Latics, go! May we have many more days like this. I saw a real team effort, and that has seldom been the case for a long time now.
Well done wigan… your manager and players were so much better than last 2 games. We were not at our best, and were rightly defeated. Our Spurs players should be embarassed of their performance yesterday.
great game for once wigan looked like a team and al habsi was terrific.keep it up .