Ray Lewington, however, has little doubt that Wigan, a town where rugby league is the No1 game, will be hosting Manchester United at the JJB Stadium next season.
The Watford manager acknowledged his side were fortunate to escape with just a one-goal defeat, Lee McCulloch's first-half header sending last season's FA Cup semi- finalists spinning to their sixth successive league defeat away from Vicarage Road.
"Wigan are strong and well organised and they did everything that we didn't," said Lewington. "The test will be if they lose two or three games in a row, but I see no reason why they can't make it to the Premiership. They've certainly got a chance having seen what they have done to my side."
Wigan's rise to prominence is somewhat different from the trailblazing of Wimbledon. They boast a wealthy benefactor in chairman Dave Whelan, a modern stadium and two players bought for £1m each.
Whelan was on holiday in Majorca when his team took over at the top last week. But he was back on Saturday to see what all the fuss was about.
"I talk to myself about getting into the Premier League every night," he said. "I did when we were in the Third Division and everyone thought I was barmy."
Wigan started like a team full of confidence but in the words of Paul Jewell, taking charge of his 100th league game, were nervous after McCulloch's early goal.
"Looking back the worst thing we did was score," he said. "Before the goal we were playing some super stuff but it was a different story after that."
Watford are everything Wigan are not - broke, lacking confidence and in deep trouble at the foot of the table.
The Wigan goalkeeper John Filan was restricted to two saves all afternoon yet Lewington is confident he can weather the biggest crisis of his 14-month reign at the club. "We are in a poor position," he said, "but we know we can get out of it."
Man of the match: Nathan Ellington (Wigan)
Report from The Guardian.
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GEORGE ORWELL HAS DONE THE town of Wigan few favours down the years. It was, after all, The Road to Wigan Pier that many felt painted an unrepresentatively grim picture of the North and turned Wigan into a byword for industrial hellhole.
Still, Wiganers would not be Wiganers without their sense of humour and the only road they were talking about at the JJB Stadium on Saturday was that to English football’s promised land. The season is still young but, two points clear at the top of the Nationwide League first division, Wigan Athletic have got a whiff of the Premiership and it smells nicer than any pie that the town’s bakeries have to offer. Not that Paul Jewell, the manager, is getting carried away. “I prefer to do things quietly,” he reflected after Lee McCulloch’s eleventh-minute headed goal had secured a sixth successive win.
It is incredible to think that after little more than 100 matches in charge, Jewell has taken Wigan from second division obscurity to within sight of a place in the top flight. And to think, too, that this club only entered the Football League 25 years ago. Jewell will also be buoyed by Dave Whelan’s reassurances that he will bankroll the club should they achieve promotion.
“I can sustain Premiership football if we are to reach that level,” Whelan, the Wigan chairman, who has an estimated personal fortune of £200 million, said. Whelan has so far only enjoyed success (albeit lots of it) with the oval ball, but there is renewed optimism among the town’s football fraternity that rugby league may soon no longer reign supreme.
To judge from the 9,211 that turned out to watch this rather turgid affair, though, Whelan and his marketing team will have their work cut out trying to persuade the oval-ball lovers that there is room in their lives for football, too.
For the better part of this contest, it was difficult to believe that Wigan were top of the league. Certainly, it would have been a hard job trying to convince the neutral that this was a football team going places. At times, the silence was intolerable.
Watford started brightly enough, but as soon as McCulloch broke the deadlock you sensed it was going to be a long afternoon for Ray Lewington’s men. “It almost looked like we were out there just trying to keep the score down,” the Watford manager said. “We worked hard but we never posed a threat. I never thought we could win it. We just didn’t look like we had any belief in ourselves.”
Watford’s fall has almost been as sharp as Wigan’s rise. They looked like a shadow of the team that reached the FA Cup semi-finals last season. Where Wigan offered inspiration, Watford could offer only perspiration.
Watford were given an early warning after ten minutes when Nathan Ellington, the lively Wigan striker, raced 50 yards down the pitch only to see his shot palmed to safety by Alec Chamberlain, the Watford goalkeeper. From the resulting corner, McCulloch rose unmarked to power home Jimmy Bullard’s cross for his third goal of the season. It was no more than the home side deserved.
Ellington came close to doubling Wigan’s advantage when his dipping 30-yard shot forced a fine one-handed save from Chamberlain and after 18 minutes he was again in the thick of the action. Latching on to a wayward header by Marcus Gayle, the Watford defender, Ellington hurried towards goal, sidestepped two defenders, but then rattled his shot against the crossbar when it looked easier to score.
Wigan continued to apply the pressure, but as the first half wore on the chances became less clear-cut. The second half was much the same story with Ellington, Andy Liddell and Bullard all going close for the home team. “We needed a second goal and had chances, but didn’t make the most of them,” Jewell said. “It’s another three points, but generally things were a bit flat and we looked edgy at times. Saying that, I’ll take another 30 1-0 wins.”
Wigan Athletic (4-4-2): J Filan 6 — N Eaden 6, I Breckin 7, M Jackson 6, P Kennedy 7 — A Liddell 7 (sub: G Teale, 79min), A Dinning 6, J Bullard 8, L McCulloch 6 — G Horsfield 6 (sub: N Roberts, 70), N Ellington 8. Substitutes not used: G Walsh, P Mitchell, M Burchill. Booked: Eaden. NEXT: Coventry City (a). FORM: WWWWWW
Watford (4-4-2): A Chamberlain 6 — N Cox 4, S Dyche 5, M Gayle 4, P Robinson 5 — P Devlin 5, J Hand 5 (sub: G Fisken, 67 5), G Mahon 5, L Cook 5 (sub: A Young, 67 5) — B Dyer 4 (sub: S Fitzgerald, 67 5), D Webber 6. Substitutes not used: L Pidgley, L Doyley. NEXT: Ipswich Town (h). FORM: LLWDLL
Shots on target: (h) 10 (a) 2. Fouls: (h) 11 (a) 10. Offsides: (h) 3 (a) 6
Referee: R Beeby 6. Attendance: 9,211
Report From The Times.