Match Thread: Wigan Athletic v Lincoln City | Page 36 | Vital Football

Match Thread: Wigan Athletic v Lincoln City

How is Bramhall ahead of Roughan in the pecking order?
Because that's how MA and the coaching team see it. If we were midtable or lower criticism might be justified, but as they've got us to the top with 18 games to go, they've earned the respect that the selection and tactical choices they make are the right ones.

As good as Roughan looked in the early games, now we're heading into the sharp end of the season, as pitches deteriorate, it's a big risk exposing a young, inexperienced player. Bramall has still to fully get on method but is looking slighly better each time and has more experience to deal with game situations.
 
I also think that their last substitution / tactics switch made a huge difference. They hadn't been in the second half at all until then and suddenly they started to pen us in for a nervy finish.
 
Thought Rogers played well. We got Wigan after they were thrashed in mid-week and we should not underestimate how that makes a team fight. We can't expect teams to give us loads of room to play our best football and those towards the bottom probably will battle the most. Don't buy the argument that we are too tired though - no reason why we should be more tired than other teams many of which are injury ridden. Overall pleased with how we played.
 
Thought Rogers played well. We got Wigan after they were thrashed in mid-week and we should not underestimate how that makes a team fight. We can't expect teams to give us loads of room to play our best football and those towards the bottom probably will battle the most. Don't buy the argument that we are too tired though - no reason why we should be more tired than other teams many of which are injury ridden. Overall pleased with how we played.

Wigan are probably more tired than most having to play on that mud pitch fortnightly.
 
I think Sanders coming on allowed Grant to push further forward. I think its also very good that Eyoma got some rest tonight. I wonder if we'll see some rotation for Tuesday as some players out there look a bit tired. I know Grant is very important for us but I do think getting him a rest at some point would be beneficial long term this season.
 
I thought we were poor today, but for all the goal mouth action I never felt Wigan would get an equaliser. Wigan huffed and puffed never gave in but they really are a very poor side. If they don't find a buyer they could well be joining Bury in the NW Counties.
 
Long may our goal continue to lead a charmed life like it did in those nail-biting last five minutes. Great – and very well earned – three points.
 
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Well, as they say, we'll play better than that and lose - in fact we have, more than once this season. After we went 2-1 up we somehow got away with them missing at least four (I lost count after that) chances.

But not easy in the conditions.

Man of the match for me was Tom Hopper ahead of Adam Jackson. It was an expert finish for the winning goal considering it was his wrong foot. I thought Rogers had a better game than Johnson - very surprised at him taking that free kick instead of Grant. I'd thought a few times earlier in the season that Jones might have been a given a chance or two at free kicks, but up to now it's always been Grant.

I've got to say we look better with Eyoma and Edun as the full backs - but understand why Poole and Bramall are being eased in. For me, Bramall allowed too many crosses to come in - but then I used to think Dennis Leigh had the same fault and he did OK.

I still think Montsma is not doing as well before he got ill.

According to Michael Appleton post-match, they think Scully suffered a 'contact' injury - if so it might not be too bad. Morton not expected to back in the squad for about a couple of weeks.

A bit of trivia - no City player has ever scored more than one goal in away matches with Wigan Athletic.
 
I think we’ll have a lot of bumps and bruises today. Hope everyone can be patched up ready for Tuesday. Hope Scully is soon back, sadly his body language suggested something more than a short term injury
 
As much as I get jittery looking at the table and how close the pack are behind us following a recent return of only 5 points from 12, we haven't actually lost much ground on our competitors over the last 5 games. We have 8 points from 15 (just over 2 points per game) which is,

four less than Oxford and two less than Peterborough but,

the same as Accrington, Sunderland and,

one more than Hull, Portsmouth, Charlton
two more than Doncaster and
three more than Ipswich

In fact the only teams that have done better than us over their last 5 games are,

Oxford 12 points
Plymouth 11 points
Peterborough MK Dons and Blackpool 10 points
Shrewsbury and Burton 9 points

So a win today will maintain our 5 game total at 8 points (still two per game) and keep us very much on target to stay in the top two.

I thought I would update this following today's results (I have chosen not to delete the claim that 8 points is two per game over 5 games, please just ignore it).

We still have 8 points from 15 (1.6 points per game) which is,

four less than Peterborough and two less than Oxford but,

the same as Sunderland and,

one more than Portsmouth and Charlton,
two more than Accrington and Ipswich,
three more than Hull and
four more than Doncaster

In fact the only teams that have done better than us over their last 5 games are,

MK Dons 13 points
Peterborough and Blackpool12 points
Oxford and Shrewsbury 10 points
Plymouth and Burton 9 points

We are still the team to overhaul and if we can cobble together a fit team and bench to cover the next 2 or three weeks then I think we will be in a very good position.
 
I think we’ll have a lot of bumps and bruises today. Hope everyone can be patched up ready for Tuesday. Hope Scully is soon back, sadly his body language suggested something more than a short term injury

MA said it was the result of a clash of his knees with a Wigan player, his knee-cap against Sully's medial ligament. It is sore and stiff, but they won't know until it settles down. It sounded like days/weeks rather than weeks/months.