Wigan Athletic 1 Huddersfield Town 0 - Tuesday 18th September 2001

Haworth wonder goal earns first home win of the season

Report by John Patrick Heeley

Wigan Athletic registered only their second win of the season and their first at the JJB Stadium courtesy of a 47th minute wonder goal from Welsh striker Simon Haworth.

The vistors, relegated from the First Division last season, created chances but were thwarted by the Wigan defence and goalkeeper Stewart Kerr but also showed weakness in their own rearguard which appeared dodgy to say the least.

Lou Macari's side seemed intent on shutting out from the offset and seemed to play the defensive game in the hope of catching the home side out on the break.

Two players in particular caught the eye with striker Andy Booth, returning from injury, and American midfielder John Thorrington giving good accounts of themselves throughout the game.

Wigan manager Paul Jewell named an unchanged starting line up from the one that lost out to Wycombe at the weekend with only one change on the bench as Ian Kilford was named in place of trainee Kieran Charnock.

Latics went close to taking the lead as early as 32 seconds when a long Ashcroft throw from the left was flicked into the middle of the area by the head of Simon Haworth with the ball eventually coming out to Ged Brannan on the edge of the box but his rocket of a volley took a deflection out for a corner.

Haworth then collected the ball two minutes later from a free kick taken just inside the Wigan half, beat his mark and put the ball across the area but with nobody around to finish it off it was cleared to safety by the Huddersfield defence.

The Huddersfield defence were showing their weaknesses early on as mistake after mistake threatened to let Wigan in but luckily for the visitors Wigan failed to capitalise on the errors.

In the 8th minute Haworth nodded forward and chased after the ball but the ball landed too far in front for him and the Huddersfield keeper Martyn Margetson collected before the Welshman could get on the end of it.

Terriers striker Andy Booth was unfortunate in his side's first real attack of the game in the 15th minute when Stewart Kerr came off his line and did well to save with his legs to deny the Huddersfield number 32.

Moments later Peter Kennedy and Lee Ashcroft combined to clear behind for a corner form a left wing cross as Huddersfield stepped up a gear.

A minute later the action switched back to the other end of the park as Lee McCulloch stole in to beat Huddersfield skipper Steve Jenkins to a loose ball 30 yards out before knocking it out to the left.

Lee Ashcroft collected and raced down the line before putting in a cross to the middle of the penalty area but Haworth couldn't quite get a connection as he was jostled by a host of defenders all fighting for the same ball.

Just before the half hour mark Huddersfield went the closest so far to breaking the deadlock as Stewart Kerr was forced into a brilliant save, diving low to his left to get a glove to a low drive from Andy Booth, forcing the ball around the post for a corner.

After 32 minutes McCulloch received the ball from Ashcroft's header out on the left but his goalbound half volley proved no problem for Huddersfield's Welsh keeper.

Paul Dalglish showed the level of his pace in the 38th minute when he beat a couple of Huddersfield men on the right flank before racing down the touchline to deliver a beatiful ball into the middle but Lee McCulloch was a yard off and failed to pick it up as the danger was cleared.

Wigan had one more attempt before the interval as Haworth attempted an ambitious overhead kick which he sent over the bar and apparantly brought him a ticking off for showboating in the dressing room half time team talk by Paul Jewell.

Wigan didn't take long to put themselves in the driving seat when SIMON HAWORTH received the ball from Neil Roberts, brought on to replace Lee McCulloch for the restart, and turned to lob Margetson who was off his line, from 25 yards.

Tony Dinning proved himself consistent if nothing else after 56 minutes when he received his third booking in as many games since his arrival at the club and will be heading for a quick one match suspension if he keeps this up.

On the hour mark a loose ball bobbled across the face of the Huddersfield goal just begging for someone to put a toe on the end of it but it was the same old story for Wigan as it was eventually cleared to safety.

Two minutes later Huddersfield's Danny Schofield went on a charge through midfield before hitting a low drive from 20 yards out but the 21 year old, making only his 7th start for the club, didn't get enough power on the ball and Kerr had no difficulty in collecting.

After 66 minutes Haworth went charging into the Huddersfield area before going down and appeals for a penalty fell upon death ears and to be honest from my vantage point I felt that he was lucky not to be booked himself.

One of the main talking points of the game came in the 73rd minute when Schofield hacked down Paul Dalglish and as he had already received a yellow card at the end of the first half off he went for an early bath and thus reduced the visitors to 10 men for the final 20 minutes of the game.

Dalglish himself immediately left the field as he was replaced by Kevin Sharp but not sure if this was pre-planned or if it was a result of the incident.

The sending off seemed to stir something in the Huddersfield side and they pressurised Wigan and had the lion's share of possession from then on in and in fact nearly responded with an equaliser within a minute of the game restarting when Nathan Clarke headed over from a free kick and Andy Booth fired over from 10 yards out 2 minutes later.

Brannan briefly threatened for Wigan in the 83rd minute but was beaten to the ball by the keeper after knocked it forward into the area as Wigan clung on to their lead.

The Wigan faithful were left clinging to their seats well into the three minutes added on by the referee as Huddersfield pushed forward for the equaliser and within the dying seconds were awarded a free kick 20 yards out on the right.

The ball was put into a throng of players inside the Wigan area and to the relief of the home side the play was stopped for an infringement by Huddesfield with the whistle blown for full time minutes later.

The Haworth goal was later described by visiting fans as a fluke but anybody who watches Wigan will know that the Welshman never fails to surprise with his spectacular goals but as his manager Paul Jewell is constantly saying, Wigan need a goal poacher who can knock them in from close range.

Haworth's goals, although beautiful to behold at times, don't come often enough and that seems to be at the root of Wigan's problems.