Latics 1-0 Manchester United

At the fifteenth attempt the Latics have finally triumphed over Manchester United as Shaun Maloney's historic second half strike lifts his side out of the drop zone. The Scottish international buried the winner from 20 yards out to give the Latics a deserved victory against an out of sorts United.

Victor Moses' first half header was wrongly ruled out in the first half after Captain Gary Caldwell was adjudged to have impeded visiting keeper David De Gea. In yet another game littered with poor decisions from the officials the eventual winner from Maloney was seen to have come from a corner that should not have been. But as the old saying goes, decisions do have a tendency to even themselves out over the course of a season.

The result sees Wigan finally overcome the 19 time league Champions, and ensured that they keep up with their impressive run of form. Following their contentious last gasp defeat at Chelsea on Saturday, it would have perhaps been easy for their heads to drop. Instead Roberto Martinez's men made up for Saturday's heartache by sealing what could prove to be a huge victory for his side. He had called for a 'perfect' performance and they delivered tenfold

As usual they dictated much of the play in the first half, but once again failed to trouble the opposition keeper. This was until Moses' goal was ruled out, sparking outrage from the home bench. Despite the setback they kept their cool and finally took the lead early into the second half. It was nothing more than their play merited, Maloney worked a short corner with the impressive Jean Beausejour to curl an outstanding strike past De Gea.

For much of the game Wigan were comfortable with 52% of the possession, and United were restricted to just three attempts on target. Even the expected late onslaught from the Champions didn`t materialise.

In the other results QPR picked up three points with a 3-0 victory against Swansea which sees them remaining level on 31 points with the Latics. Crucially Martinez's men are now out of the drop zone, for the first time since November. Despite this being an unexpected victory it will serve as a huge boost in the push for survival and next up is an equally tough task on Monday night at Arsenal.

On tonight's evidence the belief is flowing throughout the team and the performances of late have shown that the Latics are up for the fight and are ready to pull of the great escape once again.

Latics - Al-Habsi, Alcaraz, McCarthy, Caldwell (C), Di Santo (Diame 70), Maloney (Sammon 77), Moses, McArthur, Boyce, Beausejour, Figueroa.
Unused Subs: Crusat, Watson, Pollitt, Gomez, Stam

Manchester United - De Gea, Evra (C), Jones, Ferdinand, Evans, Rooney (Nani 65), Giggs, Hernandez (Welbeck 58), Carrick, Young (Cleverley 45), Valencia.
Unused Subs: Amos, Smalling, Park, Pogba

Niall Owens

Read more from Niall Owens on his blog: laticsinanutshell.blogspot.co.uk

















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