Report by John Patrick Heeley

If you're in the least bit squeamish then hit your 'Back' button now. If you're sadistic then read on but be warned it's not very nice.

Paul Jewell had promised a strong squad in his pre-match comments and what did we get?

A near enough full strength squad lined up indicative of the Wigan manager's desire to win the game and boost confidence and morale in the ranks.

However confidence and morale was not low throughout the 90 painful minutes of the game it was simply non-existent.

I can't for the life of me remember the last time I had witnessed such a pathetic performance from a Latics team.

Maybe it's because I had blanked out the memories of past distasters, but there is one thing for certain, I never want to go through that again.

The game started slowly with plenty of movement through midfield but nothing in the region of goal scoring opportunities.

The home side were dealt what was believed at the time to be a major blow to their attack when Craig Faulconbridge was forced to leave the field on 23 minutes after a clash of heads and was replaced by Andy Morrell.

Two minutes later Wigan took an unlikely lead when centre half KEITH HILL, on loan from Cheltenham Town, dove in to divert a low ball across goal into the back of his own goal as he attempted to cut out the ball from the waiting Wigan attack.

Wrexham almost immediately equalised through Lee Trundell whose thunder of a shot forced Derek Stillie to pull off a magnificent reflex save, the Wigan keeper diving almost full stretch to his left to push the ball around the post for a corner.

Simon Haworth should have done far better minutes later when he rose unmarked, yards out to meet a cross to the centre of the six yard box but the Welsh striker somehow managed to head the ball straight to ground at the feet of keeper Kristian Rogers.

Then the inevitable happened and Wrexham levelled the game. Wigan were torn apart down the left side of midfield with Hector Sam, making his comeback from injury, and Robins' assistant manager Kevin Russell combining well before pushing the ball through to LEE TRUNDLE who turned, beat his man and fired a sweet shot across Derek Stillie finding the top corner of goal.

The goal sparked the home side into action and further chances fell to Morrell who narrowily missed out on a low ball across the face of goal from goalscorer Trundle, and skipper Darren Ferguson whose free kick from 20 odd yards out took a wicked deflection off the wall before narrowily missing the target with Stillie struggling to get to it.

Hector Sam nearly gave his side a deserved half time lead when he raced onto a forward ball before going one on one with Stillie. The Trinidad and Tobago forward slipped a low shot under the advancing Wigan keeper only to see it go marginally wide of the far post.

All square at half time and everything to play for but the second forty-five reads like a chapter from a Stephen King novel. Paul Jewell brought on Andy Liddell, making only his 4th appearance of the season because of injury, and Paul Mitchell.

Going off were former Wrexham forward Neil Roberts and young defender Paul Mitchell.

Substitute Andy Morrell almost scored an opportunist goal when he disposessed a Wigan defender in the area and with the slightest of touches prodded the ball goalbound but Stillie was on hand to deny, putting behind for another Wrexham corrner.

Then Sam, who had been causing the Wigan defence all sorts of problems, broke down the right, nipped inside and then layed the ball off for Ferguson who fired over from outside the area.

Constant pressure was rewarded on 55 minutes when Ferguson broke down the left before setting up LEE TRUNDLE who forced his way into the area, beating Wigan skipper Arjan De Zeeuw, and then unleashed a low shot under Stillie's body and into the far side of goal.

Nine minutes later Wrexham made it three with an almost mirror of the previous goal. Kevin Russell punted the ball down his left flank finding ANDY MORRELL who left the normally dependable De Zeeuw in his wake before rattling the ball across Stillie and yet again into the far side of the net.

Wigan did have a couple of half chances at getting back into the game, both falling to Simon Haworth but his first wouldn't have troubled our Maude when he went clear on goal with only the keeper to beat and his second was blocked by the Wrexham defence with a corner his only reward.

Then with only 11 minutes remaining the proverbial wheels fell off as Wrexham effectively put the game beyond Wigan's reach.

A short free kick from Darren Ferguson found Shaun Holmes on the left and his quick thinking cross found ANDY MORRELL in acres of space and the Doncaster born striker headed straight past Stillie to make it 4-1.

I was just trying to work out the last time a team had put four past Wigan in a competive game and also wondering why I hadn't joined some of my fellow fans on their way back home when the scoreline got worse.

Midfielder STEVE THOMAS, sent off against QPR at the weekend, collected the ball out on the left and hit a rasper straight across Stillie and into the far side of goal.

Now correct me, as I may be wrong, but I thought that the referee could only blow for full time when the ball was in play and therefore, when he brought an end to proceedings as Stillie was yet again picking the ball out of the net he did so illegally.

I imagine that the Lichfield referee was feeling the same way as the Wigan fans who had stayed until the bitter end and he had actually had enough of the game but do you think we could demand a rematch on a technicallity?

No, me neither. As I said earlier I never want to be put through that again.

Hang on a minute, Wrexham are Wigan's opponents on Saturday. Heaven help us.