Report by Dave Seddon - Wigan Evening Post

IF Wigan reach the promised land of Division One in May, they will have done it the hard way. After producing champagne football during the first half of the season, Latics have served up a version more akin to flat ale since the turn of the year.

And Saturday's performance against Bury was certainly closer to warm bitter than Dom Perignon.

John Benson's lads huffed and puffed to break down a Shakers side who arrived in town happy to share a goalless draw.

And for 77 frustrating minutes, a blank scoreline looked odds on.

But Andy Liddell had other ideas, and his well placed volley secured Latics three valuable points which keeps them in the promotion hunt.

It was fitting that Liddell should hit the winning goal as he was the game's best player by a country mile.

The sponsors chose to give their bottle of bubbly to new boy Neil Redfearn instead, and the debutant can be pleased with his afternoon's work.

Yet it was Liddell who proved a constant thorn in the side of Bury and thoroughly deserved his ninth goal of the campaign.

In Redfearn though, Latics seem to have got themselves a bargain considering they've only had to pay the slightly odd fee of £112,500 for a former £1m player.

His ability to break forward will lend valuable assistance to the attack and hopefully he can supply a few goals from the middle of the park.

In the first half on Saturday, he was still getting used to his surroundings having been thrown in at the deep end without training with his new colleagues.

But after the interval, he stepped up a gear and came close to marking his debut with a goal.

He managed to get the ball in the net only for the effort to be disallowed for handball, and then shaved the post with a late effort.

Redfearn's introduction was one of three changes made by Benson to the side which drew at Chesterfield last week.

Out went Pat McGibbon, Stuart Barlow and broken toe victim Carl Bradshaw, and in came Redfearn, Stuart Balmer and Jeff Peron.

The manager went for a bold 3-4-3 formation, with Terry Cooke and Peron pushed right up the pitch to support front pair Liddell and Simon Haworth.

"I gambled a bit and played four up front because draws are no longer any use to us," explained Benson.

"I played the two wide lads because I knew Bury could pack the middle and that was the way to get round them."

Unfortunately in the first half, no one seemed to have told the Latics side that Cooke was available on the right.

The poor lad hardly got a touch of the ball, with Peron being used as the main outlet on the left.

He did get more into the game after the break, although Peron then seemed to get starved of service as a result.

Latics started the game fairly brightly with Haworth seeing a shot deflect off a defender's boot and out for a corner following Liddell's flick as early as the eighth minute.

Darren Sheridan's flag kick found Arjan de Zeeuw beyond the far post, and his powerful downward header zipped across the face of goal and dropped just wide.

Redfearn and Sheridan both fired free kicks wide of the target while Latics' best chance of the half fell Haworth's way in the 37th minute.

Liddell's knock down found the strikerin space on the right hand side of the box, but he shot wide of the near post as Paul Williams came across to challenge.

Bury offered little as an attacking force, with only the speedy Lutel James catching the eye.

Alongside him in the attack was Serbian-born Kemaji Avdiu who arrived at Gigg Lane via spells at a Swedish club and Partick Thistle in Scotland.

But he spent much of the first half either rolling around on the floor with an injury or being well policed by Messrs de Zeeuw, Balmer and Griffiths.

Bury's only two chances of note in the first half came from the boots of Dean Barrick and James.

Just after the half hour mark, Barrick broke forward from midfield and tried his luck with a 20 yard shot which Roy Carroll comfortably held.

Then in stoppage time, a mazy run from James ended with his shot from the edge of the box being superbly pushed around the post by Carroll.

The early stages of the second half saw Liddell volley into the side netting after linking up well with Haworth, while the Welsh striker fired a daisy cutter inches wide of the far post.

Latics almost made the breakthrough in the 69th minute when a long ball out of defence was headed on by Haworth, releasing Liddell down the right.

He held off the challenge of Matt Barrass, got in the box , but shot just wide of the target.

Haworth found the net in the 74th minute but the effort was disallowed for a foul on Williams, but Latics' luck was in three minutes later when they struck the winner.

A left wing corner was partially cleared by the visitors' defence as far as Balmer 30 yards out.

He hoisted a high ball back in the box, Haworth headed it down and LIDDELL met it with a right foot volley from 14 yards which beat keeper Paddy Kenny and nestled in the far corner.

Redfearn almost made it 2-0 with six minutes left but his first time shot from Liddell's pass flashed into the side netting.