Latics 2-0 Stoke

What a fantastic feeling coming off the DW with the three points in the bag, the atmosphere in the stands was electric, the players put in yet again another great performance, especially in the second half, two excellent goals and not only back to back wins but finally got rid of the home win hoodoo, no wonder the sun is shinning.

The day started with a very large group of Latics supporters meeting the players as they arrived at the ground around 1pm, chants, handshakes and photographs set the tone for the day, once the game started the Latics burst into life within the first minute Beausejour breaking free down the left but his cross was miss hit and went sailing over the bar

Stoke had a rare chance shortly after, following their one corner of the game Al-Habsi saved smartly from Shawcross, the ball was cleared up field, Di Santo put pressure on Stoke defender Wilkinson on the half way line, robbed him of the ball and he was away, rather than go round Begovic, Di Santo tried to shoot past him, unfortunately the Stoke keeper made an excellent save with his legs and the ball went out for a corner.

The best chance of the first half fell to Jean Beausejour, he must be having nightmares about this miss, Moses on the Latics right skipped past his man, darted into the box, looked up, saw Beausejour completely unmarked 2 yards out dead centre of goal, Moses knocked the ball to the Chile international who somehow managed to send his shot wide of the target, hitting the back of a Stoke player laying prone on the floor just beyond the near post and going out for a corner, sure to feature on Question of Sport 'what happened next' at some point in the future

The Latics created more chances as the half wore on, Boyce should have shot at the far post but tried to pass, Moses and Maloney both had good efforts well saved by Begovic, whilst Stoke offered very little

The second half saw the Latics step it up a gear and the first goal came on 54 minutes. A quickly taken free kick down the Latics left saw Shaun Maloney lay the ball into the path of Beausejour, his excellent first time cross with pace and bend landed smack on the head of Antolin Alcaraz, the Paraguay international thundered a superb header into the corner of the net from six yards leaving Begovic with no chance, 1-0

Shortly after the goal another great chance fell at the feet of Beausejour, a free kick from the right found the Latics left wing back in ocean's of space at the far post, but he got the ball tangled under his feet and scuffed his shot for Begovic to save easily

Jordi Gomez was introduced on 81 minutes to some great applause after signing a contract extension this week, but there was also a smattering of boos in the East Stand, the morons who boo the introduction of one of their own players with the game delicately poised at 1-0 should ask themselves 'are Wigan Athletic the team I should be going to watch?' because the vast majority of supporters don't want you there, complete idiots

Anyway back to the game, Gomez almost doubled the lead but for an absolutely class stop for Stoke defender Shawcross that had me out of my seat clapping happily, Gomez cut in from the right and hit a thunderous curling drive that was heading for the far bottom corner only for the Stoke captain to throw himself at the ball and deflect out for a corner

The lead was doubled in the 90th minute, Huth played the ball square along the half-way line towards Wilkinson, the Stoke defender hesitated, in nipped Moses and ran with the ball 50 yards to the Stoke area, skipped round Begovic and toe poked into an empty net, brilliant, get in, we`ll have some of that! 2-0, game over

Shaun Maloney

His he our Xavi? Brilliant game of vision and drive from the little man

Shaun Maloney - The new Xavi

By permission of Bernard Platt/Wigan Athletic
Latics - Al-Habsi, Alcaraz, McCarthy, Caldwell (c), Di Santo (Gomez 81), Maloney (Watson 69), Moses, McArthur, Boyce, Beausejour (Sammon 86), Figueroa.

Unused Subs: Kirland, Crusat, Jones, Stam.


Stoke City - Begovic, Huth, Wilson, Pennant (Palacios 65), Shawcross (c), Whitehead, Walters (Fuller 65), Crouch, Etherington (Jerome 48), Whelan, Wilkinson.

Unused Subs: Sorensen, Jones, Upson, Shotton

By permission of Bernard Platt/Wigan Athletic

By permission of Bernard Platt/Wigan Athletic

Latics fans - We are staying up

By permission of Bernard Platt/Wigan Athletic

















Latics and Proud



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