Rotherham United 0-1 Wigan Athletic
Adeeko (45+3)
A miserable misty day brought on another miserable performance for the Millers fans to go home and be miserable about.
The End. . . .
In the opening minute the Millers had a chance when a loose pass was picked up by Reece James who sent a shot in from outside the box which Jason Kerr did well to block and put out for a corner which came to nothing. Wigan’s first chance on seven minutes saw Jamie McCart and Dale Taylor both go for the visiting forward getting there first and getting it on the floor for a shot which he sent straight into the waiting arms of Dillon Phillips in the Rotherham goal. At the other end Joe Rafferty sent a ball forward for Sam Nombe who fired seeing Wigan ‘keeper Sam Tickle collect at the second attempt. A couple of minutes later a fast break from James saw a one-two between himself and Jonson Clarke-Harris send the ball in for Mallik Wilks who put his shot over the crossbar before an Andre Green ball to Sam Nombe saw the forward ease past his marker sending the ball into the area for Wilks with Will Aimson being forced to give away a corner. Wigan had a couple of chances themselves firstly from Steven Sessegnon after a Matt Smith cross who saw his shot blocked while the Millers defence were also there to clear a Jonny Smith cross a minute later before a corner found Jonny Smith who put his shot just past the upright. At the other end a header from Andre Green cleared the crossbar a foul on the Millers’ winger/striker saw Matt Smith injure himself and after treatment was replaced by Scott Smith. Joe Powell, encouraged by the Rotherham fans in the stands, tried his luck from distance forcing Tickle into a good save before Phillips again saved from Jonny Smith. As the board went up for a further three minutes a cross from Toby Sibbick found Thelo Aasgaard with the Millers defence being equal to the shot and a minute later Phillips was in action again this time getting down to save from Silko-Amari Thomas. But in the final minute of time added on Jonny Smith, a thorn in the side of Rotherham, got behind the home defence and sent a lovely ball for Babajide Adeeko who was in acres of space to send the ball into the back of the net for his first goal for the Latics sending the visitors in at half-time in front.
In the opening minutes of the second half a foul on Andre Green won the Millers a free-kick in a promising position which Joe Powell took finding the head of Jamie McCart who headed over followed by a cross from Hakeem Odoffin finding Mallik Wilks who brought off a save from Sam Tickle. Fouls on Joe Rafferty and Jonson Clarke-Harris brought no joy from the resulting set-pieces before the first yellow of the game was shown to Rafferty, who a minute earlier had been unfairly crunched just outside the box, for a foul on Dale Taylor. Both Thelo Aasgaard and Jason Kerr had chances for the visitors before a half-volley from McCart brought a save off Tickle for Rotherham. The Millers started to go into ‘playing back’ mode which we have seen so often and the fans started showing their disapproval from the stands. On the hour mark Powell was in the right place to block a shot from Steven Sessegnon the resulting corner easily caught by Dillon Phillips before the Rotherham ‘keeper was in action again when he got to a shot from Jonny Smith minutes later. Substitutions were made for both sides with Jensen Weir and Michael Olakigbe coming on for Thelo Aasgaard and Jonny Smith while the Millers replaced Jamie McCart, Jonson Clarke-Harris and Andre Green with Cameron Humphreys, Jordan Hugill and Joseph Hungbo. After being fouled a few times himself Sam Nombe gave away a free-kick after a challenge on Silko-Amari Thomas which Adeeko took finding Thomas who sent his shot over the crossbar. With twenty minutes to go the Millers brought on Shaun McWilliams and Cohen Bramall with Liam Kelly and Sam Nombe going the other way. The next ten minutes or so were a succession of fouls and free-kicks going both ways nothing coming from them before Powell had a shot from a free-kick which was blocked then cleared. More changes for the visitors saw Dale Taylor and Scott Smith make way for Joe Hugill and Silko-Amari Thomas. Hungbo, who had been causing Wigan a few problems down the wing since coming on went down in the area but referee Martin Coy wasn’t interested and probably rightly so. There was four minutes of time added on with Weir seeing a shot blocked before he brought down Reece James getting a yellow card for his trouble with the resulting free-kick coming to nothing.
For me today’s entertainment was seeing the Wigan fans fancy dress outfits – penguins, an elf, a couple of jockeys and a traffic cone I saw if anyone is interested. The football on the pitch wasn’t half as exciting as that. We had a couple of shots which might have gone in – but didn’t. We should have had a couple more free-kicks but as we’d not done a lot with the ones we did get I doubt they would have made a difference. I think we put ourselves under pressure playing the ‘let’s go backwards’ game and it isn’t pretty to watch.
Fans will continue to vote with their feet I feel after today. Will I be there on Sunday I am asking myself. I expect so, yes (though, of course, that’s if I actually remember it’s Sunday as I keep thinking today is Saturday). Will I enjoy it? I bloody hope so.
Attendance – 8,509 with 883 Wigan fans in the ground
Referee – Martin Coy.
