Wigan Athletic 1 West Ham United 2

Twelve months ago, it was on the last day of the season that the Hammers knocked Wigan out of the playoffs with a last minute Brian Deane goal. This year, the Latics are chasing an automatic promotion place.

Victories for Ipswich Town (3-2 at home to Derby) and in form Sunderland (3-1 away to Q.P.R.) meant that the Latics lost ground in the chase for the Premiership.

The game opened brightly with both sets of supporters making plenty of noise. The players reacted at the opening was bright.

There were no goals to come in the first half, although Jason Roberts was denied a clear penalty, he was hauled down by Tomas Repka after Anton Ferdinand missed his clearance.

Roberts: Goalscorer

The powerful front man also managed to miss a superb one-on-one chance late in the first half as he raced through, but a good stop from Walker kept the scores at 0-0.

Harewood also managed to miss an equally good chance just before the whistle as he chased onto a lobbed through pass. His effort looped over Filan, and to Wigan’s relief, the crossbar too.

Roberts did however get on the score sheet once again and he seems to be carrying the side when it comes to attacking. A superb long range pass from Graham Kavanagh split what had looked a strong Hammers defence and Roberts sprinted through to hammer the ball past Walker from twelve yards out.

Unfortunately the big front man will not be there for the Cardiff game next Saturday. He picked up his tenth booking of the season in the dying minutes. I believe he will also miss the trip to Leicester as well. The booking, once again, was for arguing. A side of Roberts’ game that not only lets himself down, but his team mates and the fans.

Jason is a player who the Latics just cannot do without at the moment.

Sheringham: Whinger

West Ham got back into the game after just four minutes. A complete mess up in the Wigan box led to Teddy Sherringham finishing from close range, past a helpless Filan.

The Hammers then took the lead shortly after as Marlon Harewood fired home after he spun away from his marker. Another sloppy goal to concede that will not please manager Paul Jewell.

The final twenty five minutes consisted of West Ham dominance as the Latics lost all shape and ability to keep the ball. The boys in blue did not manage to create a single chance in the final minutes as ball after ball was pumped high towards Jason Roberts. I thought those days were long behind us.

The game was tight before the goals came, and either side could have taken it. After taking the lead, the Latics made the crucial mistake of sitting back. And you cannot afford to sit back against a side with West Ham’s attacking ability. Players like Teddy Sherringham – who was celebrating his 39th birthday - cannot be given a sniff of the goal or they punish you, regardless of their age.

Also, once behind, the team needs to learn not to panic and throw everything into attack. The play became direct and predictable, and West Ham never looked threatened.

Jimmy Bullard and Graham Kavanagh were left chasing shadows in the centre of midfield. While Teale was struggling to get any joy down the right side. Harewood looked a constant threat with his pace, even if his finishing was poor.

This performance will no doubt anger Jewell as a number of his starting eleven were not upto speed.

Twenty-three goal striker Nathan Ellington decided to stay at home. Not just did the front man have a bad game, but he seemed to lack effort too. A disappointing game and at no point did the Duke look like adding to his goal haul.

Lee McCulloch was substituted after 70 minutes. He was still in Italy, and replaced by Brett Ormerod, who had little luck getting past the strong defence. The on-loan front man managed a lack-lustre shot shortly after his arrival. This was more than the Duke had to show for ninety minutes ‘work’.

Once again lessons need to be learned and a few players need to give more in the six games remaining.

As if Tuesday’s game with Sunderland wasn’t big enough, it just got bigger.

Yesterday's Results

	Burnley	(2)	3	Watford	(0)	1	11,507
	Coventry City	(0)	2	Brighton & Hove Albion	(0)	1	18,606
	Crewe Alexandra	(0)	1	Nottingham Forest	(1)	1	8,458
	Ipswich Town	(1)	3	Derby County	(1)	2	28,796
	Leeds United	(0)	1	Wolverhampton Wanderers	(1)	1	29,773
	Leicester City	(1)	3	Millwall	(0)	1	22,338
	Plymouth Argyle	(0)	1	Cardiff City	(1)	1	18,045
	Preston North End	(1)	1	Gillingham	(0)	1	15,054
	Queens Park Rangers	(1)	1	Sunderland	(0)	3	18,198
	Reading	(0)	0	Sheffield United	(0)	0	18,899
	Stoke City	(0)	1	Rotherham United	(1)	2	16,552
	Wigan Athletic	(0)	1	West Ham United	(0)	2	12,993

League Table

Last game played on Saturday 2nd April 2005		Pld		Home						Away						Overall						Pts	GD
				W	D	L	F	A		W	D	L	F	A		W	D	L	F	A
1	Sunderland	40		14	4	2	41	18		11	2	7	26	17		25	6	9	67	35		81	+32
2	Wigan Athletic	40		12	4	4	39	13		10	6	4	32	19		22	10	8	71	32		76	+39
3	Ipswich Town	40		15	2	3	42	20		7	8	5	30	26		22	10	8	72	46		76	+26
4	Preston North End	40		12	6	2	37	21		6	5	9	19	30		18	11	11	56	51		65	+5
5	Reading	40		11	7	2	29	12		5	6	9	15	23		16	13	11	44	35		61	+9
6	Derby County	39		7	7	6	30	28		10	3	6	28	22		17	10	12	58	50		61	+8
7	West Ham United	39		11	4	5	31	21		6	4	9	24	29		17	8	14	55	50		59	+5
8	Sheffield United	39		8	7	5	25	19		8	4	7	22	28		16	11	12	47	47		59	0
9	Queens Park Rangers	39		9	5	6	28	23		7	3	9	20	26		16	8	15	48	49		56	-1
10	Millwall	40		10	4	6	27	18		5	6	9	15	20		15	10	15	42	38		55	+4
11	Stoke City	39		10	2	7	19	13		5	8	7	11	16		15	10	14	30	29		55	+1
12	Leeds United	40		7	8	5	27	21		6	7	7	18	22		13	15	12	45	43		54	+2
13	Wolverhampton Wanderers	40		6	11	3	32	24		5	8	7	27	29		11	19	10	59	53		52	+6
14	Burnley	39		8	6	5	21	17		5	7	8	12	18		13	13	13	33	35		52	-2
15	Leicester City	38		6	6	6	19	16		4	11	5	23	23		10	17	11	42	39		47	+3
16	Crewe Alexandra	40		5	8	7	34	33		6	5	9	24	38		11	13	16	58	71		46	-13
17	Watford	40		5	9	6	23	21		5	6	9	25	33		10	15	15	48	54		45	-6
18	Plymouth Argyle	40		8	6	6	29	22		4	3	13	18	37		12	9	19	47	59		45	-12
19	Coventry City	40		6	6	8	22	24		5	5	10	27	39		11	11	18	49	63		44	-14
20	Brighton & Hove Albion	40		7	4	9	20	25		5	4	11	14	32		12	8	20	34	57		44	-23
21	Cardiff City	39		8	4	8	21	17		2	9	8	19	26		10	13	16	40	43		43	-3
22	Gillingham	40		9	4	7	19	21		2	6	12	20	38		11	10	19	39	59		43	-20
23	Nottingham Forest	39		6	8	5	22	22		2	7	11	15	33		8	15	16	37	55		39	-18
24	Rotherham United	40		2	7	11	16	30		3	6	11	15	29		5	13	22	31	59		28	-28

Form Table

Home matches only Team Pld W D L F A Pts	Away matches only Team Pld W D L F A Pts
Sunderland 6 6 0 0 17 5 18 Ipswich Town 6 4 0 2 15 9 12 Sheff. Utd. 6 3 3 0 9 3 12 Plymouth Arg. 6 3 2 1 13 5 11 Leicester City 6 3 2 1 9 5 11 Gillingham 6 3 2 1 5 3 11 Wolves 6 2 4 0 10 6 10 Wigan Ath. 6 3 1 2 9 5 10 Leeds Utd. 6 2 4 0 9 6 10 Derby County 6 2 4 0 8 5 10 Cardiff City 6 3 1 2 6 3 10 Preston N.E. 6 2 4 0 9 7 10 West Ham Utd. 6 2 3 1 11 6 9 Stoke City 6 3 0 3 8 6 9 Nottm. Forest 6 2 3 1 6 6 9 Q.P.R. 6 2 2 2 7 7 8 Burnley 6 2 2 2 5 5 8 Brighton & HA 6 2 1 3 7 9 7 Millwall 6 1 3 2 6 5 6 Reading 6 1 3 2 5 5 6 Coventry City 6 1 2 3 5 8 5 Watford 6 1 1 4 6 10 4 Rotherham U. 6 1 1 4 3 9 4 Crewe Alex. 6 0 3 3 5 11 3	Wigan Ath. 6 4 1 1 13 7 13 Preston N.E. 6 4 1 1 9 5 13 Q.P.R. 6 3 2 1 5 2 11 Derby County 6 3 1 2 14 13 10 Sunderland 6 3 1 2 8 7 10 Ipswich Town 6 2 3 1 5 3 9 Nottm. Forest 6 2 3 1 5 8 9 Stoke City 6 2 2 2 4 4 8 Reading 6 2 2 2 4 5 8 Leeds Utd. 6 2 2 2 3 6 8 Wolves 6 1 4 1 11 10 7 Coventry City 6 2 1 3 9 11 7 West Ham Utd. 6 2 1 3 8 11 7 Millwall 6 2 1 3 4 7 7 Gillingham 6 1 3 2 7 9 6 Rotherham U. 6 1 2 3 6 10 5 Watford 6 1 2 3 8 13 5 Leicester City 6 0 4 2 6 8 4 Brighton & HA 6 1 1 4 5 13 4 Cardiff City 6 0 3 3 6 9 3 Sheff. Utd. 6 0 3 3 2 8 3 Crewe Alex. 6 0 3 3 4 13 3 Burnley 6 0 2 4 4 9 2 Plymouth Arg. 6 0 1 5 1 15 1
All matches Team Pld W D L F A Pts	Full League Table Team Pld W D L F A Pts
Sunderland 6 6 0 0 14 3 18 Gillingham 6 3 3 0 9 5 12 Preston N.E. 6 3 3 0 9 5 12 Q.P.R. 6 3 2 1 7 4 11 Wolves 6 2 4 0 13 8 10 Ipswich Town 6 3 1 2 10 5 10 Wigan Ath. 6 3 1 2 10 7 10 Reading 6 2 3 1 4 2 9 Coventry City 6 2 3 1 7 6 9 Nottm. Forest 6 2 3 1 5 8 9 Sheff. Utd. 6 2 2 2 7 5 8 Stoke City 6 2 2 2 7 5 8 Derby County 6 1 4 1 9 9 7 Plymouth Arg. 6 2 1 3 10 11 7 Burnley 6 2 1 3 6 8 7 Leeds Utd. 6 1 4 1 5 7 7 Leicester City 6 1 3 2 7 7 6 Cardiff City 6 1 3 2 5 6 6 Rotherham U. 6 2 0 4 5 8 6 Millwall 6 1 2 3 6 8 5 West Ham Utd. 6 1 2 3 8 11 5 Crewe Alex. 6 0 3 3 4 12 3 Brighton & HA 6 1 0 5 5 14 3 Watford 6 0 1 5 6 15 1	Sunderland 40 25 6 9 67 35 81 Wigan Ath. 40 22 10 8 71 32 76 Ipswich Town 40 22 10 8 72 46 76 Preston N.E. 40 18 11 11 56 51 65 Reading 40 16 13 11 44 35 61 Derby County 39 17 10 12 58 50 61 West Ham Utd. 39 17 8 14 55 50 59 Sheff. Utd. 39 16 11 12 47 47 59 Q.P.R. 39 16 8 15 48 49 56 Millwall 40 15 10 15 42 38 55 Stoke City 39 15 10 14 30 29 55 Leeds Utd. 40 13 15 12 45 43 54 Wolves 40 11 19 10 59 53 52 Burnley 39 13 13 13 33 35 52 Leicester City 38 10 17 11 42 39 47 Crewe Alex. 40 11 13 16 58 71 46 Watford 40 10 15 15 48 54 45 Plymouth Arg. 40 12 9 19 47 59 45 Coventry City 40 11 11 18 49 63 44 Brighton & HA 40 12 8 20 34 57 44 Cardiff City 39 10 13 16 40 43 43 Gillingham 40 11 10 19 39 59 43 Nottm. Forest 39 8 15 16 37 55 39 Rotherham U. 40 5 13 22 31 59 28