Heartache at the death for Wigan

Report by John Patrick Heeley

Wigan Athletic lost this game in the cruellest of fashions as Queens Park Rangers' constant pressure in the second half was rewarded five minutes into stoppage time.

Wigan had taken the lead through Tony Dinning's first goal for the club since his big money move from Wolves but with seconds ticking away at the end of the first half Andy Thomson capitalised on a mistake to level matters.

Just has it looked like the game was going to end honours even Wigan gave away a free kick on the right and Ged Brannan, in an attempt to clear, headed past his own keeper to give the visitors the victory, which on reflection was probably a fair result.

Wigan started well and in fact should have taken the lead after only six minutes when Neil Roberts headed wide from a Simon Haworth left wing cross.

Ged Brannan wasted a golden opportunity just before the quarter of an hour mark when he was sent clear by the hard working Lee Ashcroft.

Leroy Griffiths fired a shot straight at Stewart Kerr from the edge of the area after 21 minutes before De Zeeuw headed wide of the far post from a Peter Kennedy free kick out on the right.

Brannan went close in the 29th minute when his fierce shot went narrowily wide after the ball landed at his feet from Rangers' attempted clearance of Lee Ashcroft's header into the area.

On the half hour mark Rangers gave Wigan a scare following a well worked move forward and the home side desperately cleared the penalty area when a goalmouth scramble threatened Stewart Kerr's goal.

Lee Ashcroft then found himself in the referee's notebook for a late challenge on Ben Askar and a minute later Tony Dinning was booked yet again for a foul on Matthew Rose near the centre spot, his fourth successive yellow since arriving at Wigan.

Rangers keeper Chris Day had to punch clear a Kennedy left wing cross in the 37th minute and two minutes later he lobbed in another ball from the left in an attempt to find Neil Roberts who had raced into the area but the Welshman's threat was ineffective and the visitors cleared and hit Wigan on the break.

Stewart Kerr was forced into making a fantastic reaction save, diving low to his right to collect the ball at the bottom corner to deny Kar Connolly's effort from the edge of the area.

Paul Dalglish broke clear from midfield after 40 minutes but was was stopped in his tracks by the QPR defence with the ball going out for a throw in down on the right.

Lee Ashcroft collected the ball and swung in a cross into the middle of the box and amidst confusion amongst the visitor's defence TONY DINNING crept in to nod home his first goal for his new club from close range.

Wigan's lead didn't last long though and with seconds running out in first half stoppage time Scott Green opted to pass back to Stewart Kerr when he should have cleared and the keeper's rushed clearance fell short of Arjan De Zeeuw who slipped as he attempted to collect allowing Matthew Rose to set up ANDY THOMSON who pushed a low shot around the Wigan keeper for his seventh league goal of the season.

The goal turned the game and the second half saw Wigan under constant pressure from QPR with Leroy Griffiths an integral part of many of their attacks.

Wigan's only real chance of the second period fell to Lee Ashcroft whose shot from outside the area caused the Rangers keeper problems as he was forced to parry the ball away.

Andy Liddell was brought on as a replacement for Neil Roberts just before the hour in a hope that the Wigan number 7 could add something extra to the Wigan attack but despite a lot of running about his presence failed to produce anything of substance.

Former Wrexham striker Karl Connolly and Leroy Griffiths teamed up well with little over 10 minutes of normal time remaining and Connolly brought out another fine save from Kerr as Rangers looked for the elusive winner.

With the fourth official signalling five minutes of added time the visitors continued to look for a way through the Wigan defence, with their 900 or so travelling fans glued to their seats and remembering that Rangers had fell foul of late goals on four occasions so far this season.

However the boot was on the other foot, so to speak, this time and with the last attack of the game the visitors earned themselves a free kick 20 yards out on the right.

Mark Perry sent the kick deep into the Wigan box GED BRANNAN glanced the ball over his head and into the back of the net.

Wigan restarted the game but it was the last kick of the match as the referee immediately called a halt to proceedings signalling the end of a dismal afternoon for the home side.