Sheffield Wednesday were beaten 3-2 in an entertaining encounter at Hillsborough today.
The visitors took the lead after 14 minutes when Emile Heskey nodded in from a corner but the Owls equalised almost immediately. Jermaine Johnson jinked past 3 men before sliding the ball past Nash in the Wigan goal.
The Latics regained the lead 10 minutes before half-time, this time Titus Bramble doing the business from another De Ridder corner.
Wednesday were level again 10 minutes after the restart, Deon Burton scoring from the sport following a foul on Marcus Tudgay.
As the game progressed the Premier League side highlighted the differing levels between the clubs and created a number of good chances from good passing moves. Despite this they did not make their superiority count until injury time when substitute Zaki pounced on some slack defending to beat Grant.
From a positive point of view Wednesday gave as good as they got in the first half and Jermaine Johnson looked particularly lively.
O'Connor also had a good first half but playing alongside McAllister in the centre of the park, the two perhaps were too similar and the team would probably benefit from having the creativity of Jimmy Smith in there, particularly at home when the onus should be on the to attack.
Marcus Tudgay played wide on the right and the balance of the team did not quite look right.
There were also too many hopeful balls played into the channels for Sodje to chase, he will always be a willing runner but at times it was something of a selfless task and the team should be able to retain possession better.
More of a concern was the defending at set pieces. Wigan scored two from corners and were always a threat. Beevers generally didn't have his best game but everyone is allowed a below par performance every now and again.
Hinds also looked shaky and offered little going forward; if Watson is fit next weekend then he is likely to feature.
Leon Clarke was given the chance to make a claim for a place in the 2nd half but although he does look trimmer his touch and build up play wasn't great and the less said about an attempted chip for goal the better, it made Geoff Thomas' famous effort for England many years ago look good!
While there is plenty for the Owls to work on in the next week there was also enough to be encouraged by, particularly the way the team attacked on the break when Johnson was on the pitch. Credit to Wigan who passed the ball well and look a decent side, they tore Barnsley apart in midweek so Wednesday should certainly take some encouragement from this performance.