By CCFC Sid
September 28 2003

Gutted! When you score the games first goal in the 92nd minute you don’t expect to walk off the pitch with only one point. Unfortunately, a howler worthy of Fabien Debec by Shearer gifted a point to a Wigan side, who, if this display is anything to go by, won’t be top of the table for much longer. McAllister opted to bring himself back into the side at Suffo’s expense, and gave the sort of performance that made you wish he hadn’t bothered. His floated "dink" corners, which were all he ever tried rather than opting for some variation, failed every time - though he wasn’t the only culprit as far as set-pieces were concerned. This was as poor a range of corners and free-kicks from CCFC as will probably be seen by any team in any division this season….

Horsfield missed a glorious chance to give Wigan the lead after 17 minutes, hitting the post with a shot, then somehow managing to hit the bar with the entire goal to aim for. Quite how he managed to miss I doubt anybody in the ground knows, as he seemed to have enough time to pour himself a drink, read the paper, and order a pizza before a challenge would have come in. A minute later CCFC wasted a great opportunity to at least test John Filan in the Wigan goal, after a Safri burst down the right, but passes went astray, and the threat was gone.

Five minutes later, a well taken Wigan free-kick was plucked from under the cross-bar by Scott Shearer, and minutes later a McAllister free-kick almost led to a CCFC goal. This wasn’t actually through the quality of the delivery (which was again very poor), but thanks to a Wigan defender almost turning the ball into his own net.

CCFC didn’t create too many chances in the first 45 minutes, and any chances that did fall their way were usually created by Andy Morrell, who sent over a few dangerous crosses, that were unfortunately wasted. A 26th minutes Morrell cross saw Adebola actually win a header in the box(!), which went just wide of Filan’s post, and another cross in the 34th minute saw a Wigan defender nip in ahead of Barrett and clear the ball for a corner. This saw three poor corners in quick succession come to nil….

A terrible McAllister free-kick on the stroke of half-time didn’t even manage to clear the wall in front of him, and Staunton’s follow-up shot was equally as terrible.

McAllister carried on where he left off after a minute of the second half, taking a terrible free-kick on the half-way line with Andrew Whing, with neither playing having any idea what was going on, and leaving the ball for a Wigan player to almost steal. Another wayward McAllister pass on 55 minutes gave Wigan a clear run at goal, with the chance thankfully going to waste.

Despite suggestions that Jorgenesen was a definite starter for this game after a decent 45 minutes display against Spurs, he again started the match on the bench, and was introduced in the 60th minute for Mansouri. Within a minute of coming on, he almost latched onto the end of a CCFC move, but was thwarted by John Filan. Minutes later there was a scramble in the Wigan penalty area, with Barrett twice being unable to dig the ball from around his feet a mere five yards out, and again the chance was wasted.

A Staunton free-kick fell to Jorgensen on 75 minutes, whose effort was cleared by Wigan’s defence, and two minutes later a fantastic Konjic challenge stopped a clear goal chance for Wigan. Morrell then raced 50 yards, but unfortunately, just as it looked as if he was going to shoot, he lost control without actually testing Filan in Wigan’s goal.

Kennedy was sent off for Wigan in the 80th minute after two yellow cards, the second for pulling Barrett down after the former Arsenal man had got past him and was closing in on goal. Minutes later Barrett was replaced by Suffo. Suffo was fouled on the edge of the area with only two minutes of the game left, and McAllister actually almost landed a free-kick on target (Filan did push the ball over for a corner, but from where I was sitting (In line!), it looked as if the ball was going over anyway).

Good battling from McAllister, who robbed a Wigan defender who was caught dwelling on the ball rather than hoofing it clear, saw the ball break to Jorgensen. He attempted to lob the ball over Filan, who managed to get a hand to it, but Morrell won the battle to get to the rebound first, notching his fourth goal of the season. Delirious scenes greeted what was surely a CCFC winner against the team that had led the table until dinner-time on Saturday, but alas….

The defence had looked far more solid today than it had recently, and all they had to do was hold out for a few seconds more, but a poor effort from Roberts, that seemed nothing more difficult than a weak back-pass was unbelievably spooned by Shearer. He attempted to claw the ball clear, but failed, and it was knocked home from almost on the goal-line by former Everton and Norwich player Matt Jackson.

The irony of Wigan’s late, late equaliser was that the time was only added on after one of their players (McCulloch) came off worst after fouling Barrett. Had there only been two minutes injury time, the D1 table might not look quite so bad....