Report by Dave Seddon - Wigan Evening Post

IF Wigan Athletic manage to fulfil their ambitions next May and march on as champions into the First Division they must learn one simple, but vital lesson-a football match lasts 90 and not 80 minutes.

How else can you explain the incredible and scarcely believable events at the New Den on Saturday when Latics stunned all and sundry by throwing away a three goal lead at the home of one of their closest promotion rivals.

Latics fans have become used to their side squandering one and two goal advantages over the years but for a three-goal cushion to be wasted in the last 11 minutes of a game they had totally and utterly dominated simply defies explanation.

You can actually try until you are blue in the face, but everything comes back to the same starting point-Latics just sat back for the last ten minutes thinking they had the game sewn up.

To be fair though, their performance over the first 80 minutes suggested they had.

They simply brushed aside Millwall with a performance of pace and power which took the sting out of their opponents and their aggressive supporters right from the first kick and had 'class' stamped all over it.

Even with a mysteriously reshuffled team, Latics were simply superb as goals from Andy Liddell, Stuart Balmer and Stuart Barlow had unsuspecting Millwall fans streaming for the exits long before the end.

Keeper Roy Carroll and midfielder Ian Kilford were missing for family reasons, while manager John Benson strangely recalled Graeme Jones in the place of Barlow up front, brought in Andy Porter to replace Kilford and, even more oddly, recalled Roberto Martinez in an unfamiliar right wing-back role.

Darren Sheridan switched to left back, while Mark Bowen floated across the centre of defence. Mike O'Neill was relegated to substitute along with Barlow.

Anxious mutterings of appearing to swap the side around to worry about the opposition, as former boss John Deehan used to favour, were quickly silenced as Latics simply proceeded to play Millwall off the field.

Jones and Haworth both went close early on before Latics surged in front right on the break with a stunning goal from Andy Liddell.

Jones flicked a long  kick from keeper Derek Stillie on and Liddell turned and volleyed over a startled Millwall keeper from fully 35 yards.

It was no more than Latics deserved  and ten minutes into the second half came goal number two, another stunner, this time from skipper Stuart Balmer.

A free kick from the edge of the box from Darren Sheridan was only half cleared to Balmer and his resulting 25-yard screamed into the top corner.

Barlow replaced a limping Jones and within minutes it was 3-0.  Martinez fed Haworth and his neat through ball left Barlow with a clear run to goal before he slotted the ball under the advancing keeper.

Then the wheels fell off!

A side, which had looked so composed, so assured and so full of the right qualities suddenly ... well suddenly, did something.

Paul Shaw's neatly taken goal on 79 minutes was chalked up, even by the Millwall faithful, as nothing more than consolation, but when Tim Cahill added a second a minute later courtesy of some uncertain Latics defending, the alarm bells in the visiting ranks reached a deafening crescendo.

It was all hands to the pumps and, just when Latics looked like holding out against opponents who had nothing but a long tactic and some new found heart, disaster struck - and big time.

With 91 minutes played when Mark Bowen unluckily brought down Paul Shaw right in front of referee Jordan and a penalty was awarded.

Bowen was booked for protesting, needlessly it must be said, before Neil Harris dispatched the spot kick.

In fact, it could even be said that another two minutes would have seen a Latics defeat but, thankfully the referee spared an even bigger inquest.

As one stunned Latics fan said after the game: "Championship sides don't throw away three-goal leads."

True.  But it's only to be hoped that we saw the first 80 minutes of this game showed Latics' true face.

Not the nightmare last ten.