MILNER the star as we push up to challenge 4th
James Milner led from the front to seal a precious victory for Villa as MON’s troops moved forward and yes he won a league game in March now !
Villa started off with just one change from the Stoke game, Gabby replacing Heskey. In what turned out to be a fantastic first half, it was end to end with Wigan very vulnerable to our pace but their movement troubled the central defenders.
Villa scored first when a crazy own goal from McCarthy when under little pressure stunned the whole ground into silence until Villa fans realised it was a goal !! However the lead only lasted a short while when bad defending from a free kick let in Gary Caldwell to score. From then on it was Villa dominance and a tale of missed chances from Gabby, Young and Carew and near chances from Milner should have seen us into a healthy lead at HT.
The second half started off as the first half finished and ended to end without any real chances being created, Finally in the 62nd minute Wigan failed to clear a corner properly and Milner put in a tremendous 25 yarder to deceive Kirkland and win the game for Villa.
Then we decided to hold what we had, a few chances for Wigan, a few heart palpitations but MOTM Milner led from the front to seal a precious and well deserved victory.
Now 3 points behind 4th with 2 games in hand and both at home and winnable.
IT IS ON
MOTM Poll (thanks Ben Gajny)
Here is a link for the man of the match voting for the Wigan v Aston Villa Game
FULL TIME – Wigan 1 Villa 2 – FANTASTIC WIN
KO at 19:45
Gabby in for Heskey the only change
Excellent turnout by the Villa fans
2nd HALF
1st Minute and nearly a Wigan goal as a great shot hits the side netting
but a slow start to the half again for Villa
Young typifies the slow start with a dreadful cross
Villa spring into life as Warnock is great a retrieving a loss cause and terrific cross is just flicked over by Young
Ref gives an awful decision against Collins for handball luckily nothing comes of it
61mins – Collins header off the line by Caldwell
GOOOAALLLL – From a cleared corner, Milner thrashes in the goal from outside the box, a Milner special
68 mins, Young sets Gabby clear on the right, shoots straight at Kirkland
18 minutes left and pace of game has never let up, fantastic to watch but nervous !
80 mins – Pace has slowed up, Villa getting all the players back, Sidwell on for injured Gabby, Heskey on for Carew
4 minutes Extra time – very nervous, hanging on
Ref blows up and 4th place 3 points in front of us
1st Half
Quiet start as Wigan settle quicker
Villa have failed to settle in the first 5 mins and Wigan look dangerous down the flanks, they fired the real first shot over
8 mins – First corner to Villa as Young gets into a decent area, from the corner Dunne flicks over
Villa finally settle and exploit space down Wigan’s wings
13 mins – Villa have goal ruled for offside as we see loads of space behind Wigan, but Freidel scrambles a shot for a Wigan corner
Carew fires a shot wide which took a deflection, no corner
19mins – Gabby does excellent, riding challenges but could not finish after a ‘robust’ challenge
another save by Friedel but ref giving us nothing after a clear foul on Gabby set up their attack
terrific open game and Carew scuffs a shot at the keeper
Yet another challenge on Gabby results in a free kick and booking for Bramble from free kick, Kirkland tips over and Collins had a head deflected over
GOOAAALLL – OG by McCarthy and funny
poor defending to let Wigan back in from a free kick
end to end as Collins deflects a shot wide
32 mins – Flick from Carew nearly ends up in the net
Young blasts over from a corner, very good chance
Fantastic run by Young and Carew blasts straight at keeper
Dunne yellow card
Milner from a cracking Volley just a yard wide in an half we have dominated for chances but failed to put two clear chances away
HALF TIME – Very good half but should have been two or three up, our lack of ruthlessness cost us.
Wigan vs Villa – TEAM NEWS – Gabby in for Heskey
As predicted Gabby is in for Heskey, which surprises me but arew’s big chance, no other changes
Friedel
Cuellar
Dunne
Collins
Warnock
Young
Milner
Petrov
Downing
Gabby
Carew
Wigan is now THE crucial game
OK, you could say for the last three months that every game has been vital but on Tuesday Evening we have a league defining meeting with Wigan at the JJB. This obviously is one of our 2/3 games in hand and 6 points behind Spurs in 4th. It does not need me telling anyone just how this game will change the rest of the season for us.
Simply put for me is it
WIN – Top 4 contender for certain and edging towards favourites give our run in after March
DRAW – Not a disaster but makes things difficult
LOSS – We will be out of the race for 4th, it is something we can not afford to happen.
You may not be aware that over the last 6 away league games we have had 5 clean sheets and 11 points. That is a very good record and one that must be extended at Wigan. Problem is we have no idea which Wigan will turn up, the one that beat us, Liverpool and Chelsea or the one that capitulated at Bolton.
MON has indicated he may rotate but we have heard that before. Clearly there is a case for Young instead of Cuellar from an attacking point of view but would we really drop anyone else for a vital game ? Gabby will start and to the annoyance of many I think it WILL BE Heskey who will be starting with him.
Apart from that, usual team eh ?
Just got to win the bloody game !!
Wigan game in serious doubt
According to the Wigan tomorrow’s game is now in serious doubt after the undersoil heating failed at 17:00PM
Pitch inspection called for 08:30 tomorrow morning
I expect this to be called off now, which will place a massive strain on the the fixture rescheduling as Blackburn next Thursday may be in doubt as well.
Wigan game on, cold opp north
Excellent news from Wigan today and confirmed by Villa that because of strenuous efforts around the ground to clear the ice the game is on, unless there is further worsening of the weather, which is not predicted to happen at the moment. Good luck to the 3000 who are going and make sure you wrap up warm.
So what can we expect ?
Wigan as they showed against us, Spurs and Chelsea are a right mixed bag of a side and you can not be sure of the type of performance they may put out. For Villa after two disappointing defeats and in one case very undeserved it is a great chance to bounce back at a ground we have a decent record at, better than at Villa Park !!).
With the run of games to come, baring any postponements it is not likely we see some changes from the team that started against Liverpool. Maybe one change may be that Carew starts instead of Heskey who may start against Blackburn three days later.
This is a game I expect us to win, it is the type of game we have slipped up on in this season so we have to go there with confidence we can win and not let the past two games affect the high confidence levels we have built up.
Make it Villa a red hot game for the fans who will make a dificult trip up there.
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