Wigan Athletic 1 Tranmere Rovers 1 - Saturday 25th October 1980

And the bad news keeps on rolling in

Report by SJG

Problems seem to be piling up at Springfield Park at the present moment. The team sit in 21st spot in the table and are without a win in three games.

They are finding it tough to find the net and have not scored in their last two outings and the week saw fan favourite Tommy Gore complete his move to rivals Bury for a fee of around £25,000.

To add to the woes Tierney picked up ankle injury against Southend and was unable to recover in time for the game.

The unlucky Dave Fretwell made way for Urquhart who returned after suspension and Dave McMullan came in for Tierney.

Tranmere started on the front foot and Wigan were second best throughout most of the match.

Latics did however, grab the lead in the 28th minute when a bad back pass was collected by the tireless Hutchinson and he neatly played in QUINN who finished well and Wigan did have a chance to double the lead on the stroke of half time when McMullan squandered a good opportunity to put his side two goals up.

Tranmere had much more of the ball and pressed forward right from the first whistle but Methven and Davids, who are in the progress of becoming a formidable defensive pairing, made sure that Ward was not called upon to fully extend himself between the sticks.

Half Time: Wigan Athletic 1 Tranmere Rovers 0

The blame for the equaliser must rest with the goalkeeper Bob Ward who is currently suffering from an apparent loss of confidence.

A high cross was played into the Wigan area from a free kick, and the keeper only partially cleared the ball which fell to Hamilton.

The Tranmere player-manager recycled the ball quickly and LUMBY swooped to score.

Wigan continued to look lethargic in attack and even the introduction of Houghton for McMullan failed to generate the urgency of pass required to break down a well drilled Rover's back line.

On 85 minutes the afternoon went from bad to worse for Latics as Davids made a well-timed tackle to deny Clive Evans a scoring chance, but in doing so he fractured his leg and was stretchered off leaving Wigan to play out the remainder of the game with ten men.

Full Time: Wigan Athletic 1 Tranmere Rovers 1